


The Elemental Lions: Book 1

by vcturtle2002



Series: Elemental Lions [1]
Category: Elemental Lions - Fandom
Genre: Action, Adventure, Lions, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:54:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 33,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24984904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vcturtle2002/pseuds/vcturtle2002
Summary: Princess Celia lives her life as the member of a royal family in the jungles of Brazil. You would think she has a normal life, but she's a little bit different- she's a lion! She's the princess of a civilization of lions in the Amazon, and she's about to go on a journey to try and save the world. Join Celia in meeting new friends and warriors to protect the world from a giant threat approaching Earth.
Series: Elemental Lions [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1808491
Comments: 1





	1. Chapter 1

The ground split open and there was a green glow that followed. Ghosts and wretched souls climbed the split ground and try to surface into our world. I looked down at them in disgust and moved my paws as they reached for me and tried to pull me down into their eternal place of suffering. Umbra laughed maniacally as he watched me try and escape their grasp. I glared at him evilly as I created a wave of water that sent him flying across the field. While I was distracted, the souls had time to climb up and grab my ankles. They began to drag me down into the glowing green abyss. I immediately began to panic as I struggled to pull myself back up the surface. As my strength dwindled away and I was about to fall, lightning struck the souls and ghosts sending them falling back down into the glowing green void. I quickly climbed up and looked at Arashi. His glowing golden eyes looked at me intensely for a moment before turning away. I found Umbra again and created small pools of water. I transformed them into spears and sent them flying towards Umbra, who dodged them. He sent undead energy towards me, which I dodged multiple times before not moving fast enough and getting hit. My body flew up into the air and spun around. I landed on the ground with a thud, and began shaking. I looked up and Umbra was standing about two feet away from me and smiled darkly. His pink eyes glowed, he lifted a paw and a puddle of undead energy formed in his paw and became increasingly bigger. He raised his paw and in it the energy glowed. The next thing I saw was white light.  
You're probably wondering what happened to me and the other person with me, so let me start at the beginning. At the beginning of time, a lion came into existence. He was an immortal being who was much stronger, faster, taller and more intelligent than humans and other lions. He contained special powers, like ability to create and manipulate water or fire. There were many powers like glass, speed, even life and death itself- and this lion possessed all of them. Since he had these powers, the lion felt as if it was his duty to protect the people of the world, so he did and became known as The Spirit Guardian. He spent his days protecting the humans from natural disasters like massive tsunamis and tornadoes but as civilization continued and spread around the globe, The Spirit Guardian wasn't able to keep up. He couldn't be everywhere around the globe at once, so he created 5 sons. He gave each of his sons one of his powers: fire, water, storm, air and earth. He trained each of them until they became masters of their element. Then he sent them to different parts around the world to protect the people.  
After for protecting people for hundreds of years, the The Spirit Guardian did 4 things. He made a realm between life and death called The Spirit Realm and moved there, becoming known as The Spirit Guardian. He sent his powers into space, where they rained down on the Earth- scattering his powers around the world, leaving an infinite number of powers to be made forever. He made his sons mortal so they could live normal lives like other lions. And finally, he gave all elemental lions the ability to chose who the next bearer of their element would be. Two elements that are the same cannot exist at the same time, and elemental lions- though stronger and much taller than average humans or animals- are mortal and can die. So when one element dies, they can pass on that element to another lion letting their powers live on forever.  
But all of that was thousands of years ago. Now we're here, in 2020 assembling to face a new threat. Elemental lions are on earth for a purpose- to protect the world from a great calamity. This calamity or problem happens once every 100-200 years and-conveniently enough- I was in a century where a calamity was going to happen. The Spirit Guardian was assembling my team but when this story starts, I was oblivious to that fact and even that there would be a calamity at all...


	2. Chapter 2

Our story starts on a warm June evening, on my 19th birthday. I live in The Water Kingdom, a civilization of lions in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil. Our kingdom was by the coast and most of the citizens lived normal lives eating fish or imported meat, playing in the ocean or exploring the jungle. But I was a little bit different, I didn't have to live a normal life because my father... was the king. My father is King Afonso of The Water Kingdom and my mother is Queen Maria- making me Princess Celia. I get to live my life in the Water Kingdom castle, eating various exotic fruits and fish, sleeping in comfy beds and getting to inherit a kingdom. Originally, I wasn't supposed to inherit the kingdom, my older brother was. He was Prince Kane, and was the best prince and brother anyone could ask for but after a fatal accident- I was left to inherit the kingdom. But enough about Kane, since I was royalty I didn't just have any old birthday party- I had a birthday celebration that would last for days- not by choice might I add. The whole city would have a festival the day before and party the night away, my parents would host a feast for our family and the city the night of and the people would continue to party the day and night after.  
It was the night of my birthday and my family and I were sitting at a table about to be served food. The city people had a huge feast, while the royal family had one of their own inside of the castle before going into the streets to commemorate the occasion with the citizens. My father grew up in a time where The Water Kingdom was still called 'The Water Tribe' and insisted on wearing his royal headdress made of feathers. My mother and I on the other hand, decided to go a bit more modern and wear necklaces made of pearl, lapis lazuli and other beautiful stones from the ocean. I sat at the table and eagerly watched the chefs bring out the last of the food. There were 2 fruit displays that had mangoes, pineapple and coconut on them, 3 gilded catfish as well as 4 grilled lobsters and a whole roast pig! I happily dug in, putting a little bit of everything on my plate. As we ate, my parents and I laughed about jokes and funny stories we had heard earlier that week. After about 20 minutes, 3 butlers came out of the kitchen wheeling in a cart with a 3 tier cake on it. It was made out of beautiful white buttercream and had candles and 'Happy Birthday Princess Celia' displayed on the top. The butlers along with my parents began singing happy birthday while I smiled and eventually blew out my candles.  
"We're so happy and proud of you Celia, you've come such a long way since you were small." My mother said, tears forming in her eyes.  
"Yes, I still remember when you were small and you would play with Kane.... you've grown so much since then. And you're about to become queen soon. Kane would be so proud." My father said clearly crying, but trying to hold his tears back while looking away.  
"Aw, thanks you guys!" I replied, hugging them and now being the one to cry. We all whipped our tears away so we could eat some cake, which was absolutely delicious and I insisted on giving the chef who baked it a raise. Afterwards, we began walking through the streets where the townspeople were celebrating, cheering and just overall partying. Some of them even had gifts, like shell necklaces for my mother and I. As we walked and my father said hello to people and stopped occasionally to see how their families were doing, me and my mother began talking.  
"So, what do you think about marriage?" My mother asked, turning to me.  
"Oh... well I haven't been thinking about it to say the least. When I get married I want it to be to someone who I actually care about, not just someone I marry for the sake of the kingdom." I replied, really thinking while I stared at the ground.  
"Like who? Like Ikaika? You two are so close." My ears perked up, and a lump formed in my throat.  
"Well, no. Me and Ikaika aren't dating or anything, I wish he would've come to the party though." I looked down," I'm not even sure he likes me to be honest..." I muttered under my breath.  
"Hm, well me and your father have been thinking, and we have someone in mind who we think might be a good match for you." I stopped walking and looked at my mother, confusion apparent on my face.  
"You picked someone out for me? Who is he?"  
"He's a royal guard, and quite talented. His name is Mizu, he's muscular, does well at his job and isn't so bad on the eyes." She said proudly.  
"I'm not too fond of you two picking out someone for me, and I have no intentions of dating him. And marriage- that's a big stretch."  
"Well, we'd at least like for you to meet him."  
"Fine, I'll meet him. Did you guys set that up too?" She blushed in embarrassment and nodded sheepishly, "When? Where?"  
"In about 10 minutes, at the castle." I sighed and rolled my eyes.  
"Well than, I guess I should get going." I said angrily, turning around and walking towards the castle. My mother said nothing, and my father was too busy to notice I was gone.  
When I arrived at the castle, I saw Mizu standing at a balcony on the second floor and sadly I made my way up towards him. When I arrived he turned his glance from the ocean toward me, and it wasn't exactly welcoming. His blue mane was cut for the military, he had deep blue eyes and muscles- but not anything to write home about.  
"Good evening Princess Celia." He said bowing, "I'm glad you were able to meet up here with me tonight. I was afraid you wouldn't show up."  
"And what gave you that impression, Captain Mizu?"  
"Well, I know you're not exactly ready for marriage. Especially not with someone you're not familiar with."  
"That's correct, I'll give you points for that." I said, walking up next to him to stare at the festival below, "What are you looking for in a relationship?"  
"Not much, I just want to take care of the kingdom as well as I can. I don't care much about the relationship aspect of marriage. When I become king, I'm going to change-"  
"When you become king? Who said you were becoming king? For you to become king, we would have to get married and I DON'T remember saying I do Captain Mizu!" I began shouting at him, as I backed away angrily.  
"Well I was under the impression that you would, I'm a great match for you. And your mother- Queen Maria- she made it seem as if you were ready to say yes". I growled angrily and jumped off the balcony to the wall below, "Princess Celia! Why would you do something so reckless, let me come hel-"  
"Another word out of you and I'll see to it that you're fired and banned from ever entering the city again." I said without a second thought and jumped off the wall and began angrily walking to find my mother. Luckily, she was returning to the kingdom with my father and was at the gate in front of me, "Mother! You told Mizu I would say yes to marrying him?!"  
"Well, we hoped you would. He seemed like such a good match for you."  
"He's terrible! How could you mistake him for someone I'd like and one day marry?!"  
"Don't raise your voice at your mother." My father said, and the rage filling up inside me must have been apparent in my eyes because his face quickly changed from angrily to concerned.  
"You! You had a part in picking him too, right? Did you know your oh so perfect match has no interest in me at all? Did you know that he doesn't like me, and wants to make a bunch of changes to the kingdom?!" My father's face became surprised, "He's a disgusting trout, who doesn't deserve to be in our kingdom. He deserves to rot in the dungeon- or better yet- get kicked out permanently. I can't wait to carry that order out tomorrow morning." I said lowly, as I walked toward the gate to leave.  
"Celia, I won't let you kick out one of our best captains just because you don't like him." My father said, and I stopped walking.  
"Well then he'll be the first one to go when I become queen." I replied and continued walking. I reached the gate and two guards opened the gate doors to let me through. I heard the gate doors close as I walked into the city to try and distract myself.


	3. Chapter 3

I walked through the city and had to put on fake smiles for the excited people in the street. I tried my best but it was hard- until I saw him. It was Ikaika, my life long friend, only person who understands me and without a doubt- my favorite person to hang out with. He lives in Hawaii, so he only visits every few months, though I wish he visited more often.   
"Ikaika!" I screamed excitedly and he smiled.  
"You miss me?" He laughed as I hugged him. Had Ikaika been any normal lion, my hug would've sent him flying towards the ground- but Ikaika was 7'11, solid muscle and had wider shoulders than any creature I'd ever seen.   
"I can't believe you're here! You were just here last month, so I didn't think you'd be coming back so soon."  
"You thought I'd miss your birthday celebration? There's no way I would your birthday, especially this one. This birthday marks the age you're finally eligible to become queen right?" Ikaika knew a good bit about how The Water Kingdom worked, because he spent so much time here. When he was 5, his parents passed away, leaving him an orphan. He stayed at his home in Hawaii but struggled, and almost died of starvation and malnutrition. When he was 6, he came to The Water Kingdom for Kane's help. Ikaika became friends with Kane before his parents passed away, and he was one of the only friends he had. When Ikaika came to The Water Kingdom and passed out from from fatigue, my parents agreed to take him in. Ikaika lived with us for 4 years, before being able to take care of himself and decided to move back to Hawaii. From then on, Ikaika visited The Water Kingdom to see my family and I a few times a year. After Kane passed away, Ikaika still decided to come visit me and we became close friends. I would even consider Ikaika to be my best friend.  
I smiled at him and he wrapped a huge paw around me in a hug. I always enjoyed seeing him and he made all the stress of Mizu and my parents melt away.   
"Your birthday festival looks amazing, I've never seen the city so bright." He looked around at the lanterns and smiled, "But it was a long trip, and I'm STARVING. How about we go grab some food and you tell me about your birthday?"   
"That sounds amazing, the last 30 minutes have been.... interesting to say the least, and I can't wait to tell you about it." I said as walked to find people giving out food.  
After 10 minutes of walking around, we settled down at the secret treehouse my brother made when he was young. It overlooked the city and the ocean, and is where I spent most of my time when I was upset with my parents. We found a vendor who was giving out cheese bread and shrimp pastel, and Ikaika couldn't be more excited. He asked my to tell him about my day as he shoved bread rolls into his mouth.  
"Well, majority of it was good. I got a new crown from my parents, everyone in the city has been especially cheerful and I got a 3 tiered cake with my name on it. It was the end of the day that's really been bad. My parents want me to get married to some captain, and he's terrible." Ikaika stopped chewing, with his eyebrows forming a look of frustration.   
"Why is he so terrible? Does he smell or something?" He laughed to himself.  
"No no, he just.. doesn't care. He doesn't care about anything, the kingdom, my family and especially not me. He says he wants what's best for the kingdom, but he wants to make a bunch of changes."  
"Well changes aren't always bad. Maybe he'd make good changes, changes that benefit the kingdom." Ikaika replied, taking another bite of his cheese bread.   
"Kai!" I yelled at him, surprised. Ikaika was his name, but he went by Kai most of the time, "I thought you were on my side."  
"I am on your side, I'm just saying that change isn't always bad. Maybe he would modernize the kingdom a bit, and throw out your dad's silly old headdress." The two of us laughed as I thought about my father who insisted on wearing feathers all the time, "But if he doesn't interest you or care about you- than he's not the one for you." He said in a more serious tone.   
"They set me up on a date with earlier and it was horrible. My mother basically told him I was ready to marry him, so when I saw him he thought for sure we were getting married. He started talking about when he's king. Ugh, it was so infuriating. I want to have him banned from this kingdom." Kai looked down and nodded his head as if to say 'maybe a little harsh, but I agree'.   
"So then, what are you going to do? Who are you going to marry, or are you getting married at all?"  
"I will, marriage isn't something I'm opposed to. I just want marry the right one." I said turning to him and smiling. He got up and hugged, which is something I wasn't expecting.  
"You'll find him one day, I'm sure he's not too far away." He stared at the stars smiling, so I began to look with him. I laid my head on his shoulder while we stargazed and wondered if he was thinking about his parents. He always hears about the fights and arguments I have with my parents... I bet he wishes he could have just a moment with his parents. Even if it was to fight or argue, just to see them and talk to them again. It's been 18 years since he last saw them...  
I felt my eyes getting heavier and heavier and eventually they closed, but just as I was about to fall asleep as bright light appeared in front of us. My eyes shot open and me and Kai stepped back in fear. I tried to figure out what is was, but it had no physical shape. Suddenly, a pair of glowing white eyes appeared.   
"What.. what do you want?!" Kai screamed at him, and the eyes looked down at him.  
"I am The Spirit Guardian, the one of legend." Kai and I shared a glance in awe at each other before turning back to The Spirit Guardian, "A new threat will soon surface, and you are the ones destined to stop it."  
"Destined to stop it? Why did destiny choose us?" Kai asked confused.  
"Because you possess something that no other elemental lions do. Your personality and character make you the best chance at stopping the threat."  
"Will we be able to...? Are the two of us strong enough?" I asked, and Kai turned to me with worry in his eyes.  
"I believe you are capable of defeating this threat, but you are not alone. There will be 3 others with you, but it is up to you to gather them. King Azad of The Jungle Kingdom and master of earth- you will find him near Periyar National Park, India. Princess Aella of The Cloud Kingdom and master of air- you will her in London of the UK. And finally Arashi, the ghost of the mountain and master of lightning- you will find in Tokyo, Japan. Where they are specifically- I do not know, that is your journey to go on. Find them, learn to fight alongside them and when the time is right, I'll talk to you again..." He said, his voice echoing as he disappeared. Kai and I sat down and stared at each other, baffled and unsure what to do.   
I took Kai back to the castle, and to my room. I asked the chefs to bring us some ice cream, and it arrived as I asked Kai a question.  
"What's going to happen, Kai?"  
"Well, we're going to have to go find them. I know it sucks that we'd have to go on a mission so suddenly and just drop everything- but it's our destiny, our job." He said, as he grabbed 3 gallon tubs of ice cream off the cart a butler had brought. I laid my head on his chest, and he looked down at me.  
"But... but what if we... die...? I'm not ready to die yet..." I said gloomily, trying not to cy.   
"It's going to be okay Celia, I promise."  
"But how do you kno-"  
"Because I won't let you die." I looked up at him and he was smiling. It gave me a sense of hope, and that he cared more than he let on, "Now c'mon, tomorrow we're going to have to leave so let's enjoy tonight. It's just me and you, and 3 gallons of ice cream." He laughed, putting the ice cream on a table. I sighed in relief and realized he was right, it'd be better to just have a night off instead of worrying myself sick. I grabbed a carton of berry sorbet and got him a carton of buttered pecan. For the rest of the night, me and Kai sat on my bed eating ice cream and talking about how we've been for the past month. I told him about the preparation for my birthday celebration, and he told me about his garden in Hawaii. He started the garden in honor of his parents and brother. His brother passed away along with his parents all those years ago. He wasn't born yet, but Kai couldn't wait to be a brother. His name was supposed to be Drake, and when Kai was devastated when his parents died because he never got to meet him.  
We talked until it was after midnight, and Kai had eaten WELL over 1 gallon of ice cream- finishing his gallon, a second gallon and half of mine. Eventually, the two of us fell asleep, with me asleep on his shoulder while he bear hugged my pillows. If only we knew what was on the road ahead...


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning I woke up to the sound of Kai's loud yawn. I sleepily looked over at Kai, who smiled before closing his eyes again.   
"C'mon Kai, we should probably get up if we want to go find the rest of the team."  
"Can we get breakfast first?" Kai asked tiredly, and I laughed. I made a call to the kitchen and ordered eggs and bacon. While I made the call, Kai got up and yawned again.  
"So, who do you think we should try and get first? How about Azad, it would make sense since we both know him already."  
"Yeah, he sent me a emerald necklace for my birthday." I smiled, "But I think it'd be a lot faster to go to London instead of India. Then we can make a straight line from there, to India and to Japan. " He nodded in agreement, still tired but his mood perked up when there was a knock on the door and 'breakfast Princess Celia' could be heard from the other side. Kai jumped at the door and grabbed the food after saying 'thank you'. He took a plate with what looked like a mountain of eggs and bacon, and gave me a plate with a significantly smaller amount of food. Kai happily ate, what was probably about 2 or 3 dozen eggs and 2 pounds of bacon.   
I finished my food quicker than Kai, which gave me time to clean my face in my vanity. I dipped my paws in a bowl of water, and cleaned my face. As I was drying my face and Kai was finishing the last of his eggs, my parents burst in the room.   
"Celia! Oh, thank goodness. When you left last night, we didn't know if you came back or not. We smelled the eggs and bacon and asked the chefs why they were cooking. They told us you were here and ordered breakfast. We're so glad you're back." They smiled trying to give me a hug, but I moved away in anger. There was a surprised look on their faces, almost disappointed.  
"No, don't hug me. I've been back since last night and you didn't even notice. I came back early last night and ordered ice cream, now you'll have to excuse us- we have to go." I said angrily, trying not to yell.  
"So soon? Celia... we're sorry, why do you have to go out agai-"  
"Because it's our job! The Spirit Guardian contacted us last night and told us that we were needed to stop an uprising threat, but you would've known that if you actually cared about how I felt... but you don't. You didn't care about my feelings on marriage, you didn't care about how I felt with Mizu, you didn't care that something important was happening in my life- and you don't care now!" I screamed and held back tears, "So just get out of my way, we have to go..." I looked at Kai who knew I wasn't in a mood to be questioned- though I knew he would ask about this later- and it was time to leave. He got up quickly and followed me out of my room.   
We walked down to the river dock, and rode a boat to the nearest airport. After arriving, we quickly snuck through the airport and sat in the belly of a plane going from Brazil to London. I laid down still somewhat angry about the fact that my parents didn't even know I was down the hall from them for at least 8 hours. Kai sat down next to me, and looked over.  
"What is it?" I asked, aggravation in my tone. I knew he wanted to ask or say something, but he was nervous and didn't want to make it worse.   
"Nothing, I just... are you okay? It sucks what your parents did- that they didn't know you were at the castle and didn't try to find you or anything."  
"I'm..." I paused and sighed before continuing, "I'm fine. I'm more sad than upset to be honest. They just don't care, and that really sucks. They're my parents, I want them to care..." He put an arm around me, knowing I was on the verge of tears, "Kane cared, but he left... and now all I have is them. I'm so grateful to have them, and I love them... but I wish I had someone who cared."  
"I care." He said, his voice a little deeper than before, "I care about you Celia, you're my closest friend- my best friend. I only want you to be the happiest you can be." His coffee colored fur, and silver eyes looked at me with complete seriousness, "Whenever you feel like there's not a soul in the world who cares about you- remember me. Remember that I care, and that I'm here for you- always." He wiped away tears that I was unaware I had.   
"Kai... I... you-"  
"Don't read too much into it. How about we just go to sleep, okay? It's a 20 hour trip there, so we have nothing but time until then. I'll stay right here, okay?" He smiled. It looked like he was blushing, but I couldn't tell because he turned away. I laid my head on his shoulder and my eyes began to feel heavy once again. I could feel my tears but they dried away as I fell asleep and just as I did, I heard Kai say those three magic words: I love you.  
While asleep on the plane I had a dream, a rather confusing one. I was standing on the balcony of the castle that overlooked the city, and I was dressed up. I had a crown on, and special necklaces. Some of the necklaces were mine, but some I had never seen before. I was wearing the royal family gauntlets, which were made of gold had rubies on them, and swirls engraved in the top. I looked out, and there was the whole city sitting below. But they were cheering- for me! I was confused, until I turned around. There stood my parents, both smiling, but my mother with tears in her eyes.   
"We're so proud of you Celia. So proud." She sniffled, then my father walked past me to talk to the crowd.  
"I, King Afonso, would like to proudly announce- for the first time- Queen Celia!" He projected and then turned to me, waving a paw as if to say 'come over here and present yourself', but I backed away. Queen? I thought, When did I become queen? What about the coronation preparations?   
"Why don't you go see your husband, Celia? He's proud of you, just like we are." My mother said, and my eyes widened. Husband?!  
"Husband?! I... I'm married?" I asked searching her eyes for any trace of a joke or prank, but found none.  
"Yes dear, don't you remember? You had a beautiful ceremony by the beach, it was so lovely. Quite possibly the best wedding the royal family has ever seen. Oh how I wish I coul-"  
"Mom- who is he?"  
"Don't be silly Celia, you know who he is. I think it's time you go see him, go to your bedroom. He's waiting for you there." She replied and just as the last word had finished coming out of her mouth, I bolted from the balcony and down the hall. Anybody but Mizu, anybody but Mizu... I thought as I ran. I quickly found my room and burst open the door, but who I saw surprised me. There he was, his coffee colored arms with golden gauntlets on them, a royal sash and his flaming red hair falling slightly into his face. His silver eyes looked up at me, and said hello.   
"Celia, how did it go?" Kai said, not a bit of confusion on his face. My face on the other hand- was a mess. I didn't know what to say or how to feel. Kai is my husband?! I like him and he's attractive and all, but I thought we were just friends... how did we end up getting married? How did I get here? "Was the coronation that bad? Oh c'mon, I'm sure it wasn't. Even if it was babe, the kingdom will still think highly of you, now let's go. It's time for your coronation feast." He said, kissing my cheek as he walked out. What was that?! I- he just- ah! And babe?! What is happening?! I screamed internally, before hyperventilating. I felt sweat fall down my face as my name was being called over and over again until finally, I woke up.  
"Celia! Woah, are you okay? What type of nightmare were you having, you kept getting freaked out. And then you started calling my name, like I was gone or somethin'." He asked, bending his neck down to meet my eyeline and see if I was really okay.  
"I- yeah... I'm okay. Just a crazy dream I guess..."  
"What was it about?" He asked curiously, my eyes now looking anywhere but at him.   
"I... I don't remember..." I lied. He began saying something, but I couldn't hear him- I was lost in thought. Why were we married? Is Kai the one...? It does kind of make sense, him being my best friend and all. He knows me better than anyone, is always on my side, wants me to be happy and he cares about me... wait! Did he actually say I love you earlier, or was I already dreaming? I have so many questions, but no way of answering them. It's true that I like Kai... but he doesn't feel the same... does he?   
"Celia?" I looked up at him, snapping out of my thoughts, "Are you okay, you're really starting to worry me."  
"I'm fine, I think I just need some water." I said unconfidently, using my powers to make a sphere of water.   
"Alright, well we have about 30 minutes before we land. Can you make me one of those spheres too, I've been dying for a sip of water." He asked happily. Was I really asleep for almost 20 hours? I asked myself while making Kai a sphere of water, which he swallowed with one gulp.   
As I finished drinking and we got up to stretch, the plane landed. We got off at the Heathrow Airport, about 30 minutes away from London. We hopped on an 18-wheeler truck headed for London and talked the whole way. I decided not to be weird or anything since Kai himself didn't even know about the dream. There was no point in acting like something was wrong, so we told each other funny stories along the way. I told him the story of a cub who went to the beach and got his nose pinched by a crab and he told me a story about a small child who got scared by a pelican. Our 30 minute journey seemed like a few seconds, because time flies by when you're with your friends. But then again, time always seems to fly by with him.


	5. Chapter 5

It had been 40 minutes since we got to London, and we couldn't find anything. There was no trace of Princess Aella, The Empire of Magic or any winged lions at all. Humans knew that elemental lions like us existed, but us being here in London aroused suspicion and worry. Not to mention that Kai was 7'11 and I was 5'8 which scared some people. They didn't know what we were capable of but they knew that if we really wanted to hurt them, it wouldn't take much.

"Where's the kingdom?" I asked worriedly, looking around at the concerned faces of the people.

"I'm not sure. Azad is Princess Aella's best friend, but I myself have never met her. Some say that The Empire of Magic was so huge that it could not be contained here, so long ago sorcerers turned The Empire of Magic into a realm that could only be accessed by a portal." Kai said staring off into the distance, "The real question is how do we find the portal. It's evident that the kingdom is nowhere to be found, so it must be through the portal."

"A portal, you can't be serious? Magic doesn't really exist... does it?"

"I don't know to be completely honest, but it's our only lead to finding the Empire."

We continued walking through the streets, and even got food at one point but still had no luck finding anything that resembled a portal. Eventually the morning turned to afternoon, and the afternoon turned to evening. It was now dark, and the street lamps were on. We sat outside of a café trying to decide what was the best course of action to take.

"Should we find a place to sleep?" I suggested.

"I'm not sure, I think we should search through the night. That would also cause less suspicion."

"No way, if anything it would cause more suspicion. Not one, but two elemental lions running around London in the dark is NOT a good look."

"Why does that matter? We're not here to 'look good' or influence our reputation. We're here to do our job- which is finding Princess Aella. Plus, people already know we're here. We've been walking around London all day, I'm even pretty sure I saw a news crew earlier." He argued.

"Ugh, you can be so stubborn sometimes."

"You're one to talk..." He muttered, my head quickly turning toward him and my eyebrows furrowing.

"And what's that supposed to mean?!" I asked angrily, but before he could say anything- there was a loud crash. Me and Kai immediately stopped our arguing and looked at each other. The sound came from the ally way next to the café, so we got up to investigate. When arriving, we learned that the sound came from two trashcans being knocked over, and on the ground with trashcans was someone in a hood.

"Who are you?" Kai asked, not in the mood to play games and the person in the hood cursed under his breath, "I won't repeat myself again. Were you spying on us?" Once again, there was no answer, so Kai quickly grabbed the figure and slammed him against the brick wall. One giant paw covered it's body and Kai had his claws out, and they were buried into the brick because of how much force he had exerted.

"Please! Don't kill me, I'll tell you who I am!" The figure cried weakly.

"Speak." Kai said darkly, still clearly upset from earlier.

"My name is Fledge, and I'm from The Empire of Magic." Fledge shook off his hood, and we were surprised to find that Fledge was a lion, not a human, "I came here to gather some ingredients for a potion I'm supposed to be learning, but got lost trying to find it and ended up stuck here in the dark. I was trying to return home, but this ally way is dark, so I tripped on the trashcans... I didn't know anyone else was still out at this hour."

"Where is your home? How do we get there?" Kai asked, his tone now more calm.

"It's in the library behind us." Fledge replied, as Kai and I looked at each other in confusion.

"That's a brick wall Fledge. Did Kai hit your head?" I asked, half joking half serious.

"No no, I know it only seems like a brick wall- but there's magic here."

"Stop pulling my leg." Kai said, unamused as he put Fledge down.

"I'm not," Fledge replied, wiping off his cloak and turning toward the brick wall, "Follow me." And as quickly as he had said it, Fledge walked through the wall. Kai and I screamed a little in surprise, but trusted Fledge and entered. When we did, we were amazed at what we saw. Fledge was truthful- there was a library and it was huge. The library had several floors that were at least 20ft high, each one covered in bookshelves with books in every shape, color, size and story you could think of. There were wooden tables and beanbags for people to sit down and read, and there was even a librarian. She was a lion of course, but not just any lion- she had wings. She was light grey, with yellow feathers on her wings. She wore a mustard yellow sweater with a turquoise scarf. She had big brown eyes hidden behind her glasses, a friendly smile and a name time that read 'Lisel'.

"Good evening Lisel!"

"Good evening Fledge! You have two new friends I see." She said, turning to us and smiling as Kai waved happily.

"Yes ma'am, they're elemental lions and are here on a mission."

"Ooo, what type of mission? A world-saving type of mission?"

"Yes ma'am, we need to get to The Empire of Magic. We need the assistance of Princess Aella." I answered as Fledge and Lisel shared a surprised look and excited smile.

"Absolutely, right this way!" Lisel said, gesturing for us to follow her as she walked behind the counter. We passed through curtains and came to a storage room full of extra books and boxes. She pulled one of the books on the shelf, and it caused the brick wall to slit in half and open up. Behind the wall stood a portal, it was blue and semi-transparent. It glowed slightly, and gave off a magic and mysterious feeling.

"Let's go- oh and going through the portal for the first time can be... weird and have different side effects." Fledge chuckled to himself and Kai raised an eyebrow. Fledge jumped through and Kai slowly walked in, looking at it cautiously. I turned to the librarian and thanked her for her help before walking through the portal.

As I came out the other side, I looked over at Kai- who made a face I've never seen him make, before throwing up on the grass in front of us.

"Kai, are you okay?" I asked, as he stood up and wiped the throw up off his mouth.

"I think I'll be fine, thanks." He replied. He followed Fledge who happily ran along a dirt trail before stopping, "Why'd you stop?"

"Well, I was going to say it'd be faster to fly, but neither of you have wings..." Fledge said almost somberly, before his face lit up, "I have an idea, but it's risky?"

"Risky? Oh boy, what is it?" Kai asked, rolling his eyes.

"Well, I could teleport us there. I haven't graduated as a sorcerer yet because I haven't learned all the spells and done all the trials... but I have learned a teleportation spell. I'm not the best at it, but if we don't teleport its going to be a 30 minute walk."

"30 minutes?! Teleport it is." Kai said happily, and I laughed at his silliness. Fledge walked over to us, and closed his eyes. He chanted something that sounded like a foreign language, before sparkles appeared and a flash of blinding light sent us to the outside of a large gate.

"It worked? It worked!" Fledge cheered excitedly, jumping up and down as guards flew down from the gate.

"What would've happened if it wouldn't have worked?"

"We would've caught on fir-"

"Fledge!" One of the guards yelled before landing on the ground. Him and his partner wore gold chest-plates, shoulder armor, gauntlets and spartan helmets with turquoise hair on the top. They carried spears, and were slightly larger than average lions, "Who are these two?"

"They're friends- warriors, elemental beings who are here on a mission to save the world. They need to speak with Princess Aella- they need her help." Fledge answered and the two guys had surprised expressions on their face.

"Then we'll escort you directly." The second guard said, signaling to a third guard on top of the wall to lower the gate. The guard did so, and we crossed through the entrance into the city. Winged lions walked and flew through the city with feathers of every size and color. The lions of this city lived happily and healthily, with no starvation or poverty in sight. As I looked over, a small cub aggressively ate a buttered roll of bread. I laughed at him as we walked, and he looked up with amazement in his eyes. He dropped his roll and started pulling on his mother's tail to get her attention and excitedly pointing at me and smiling. Kai laughed at the small cub, and turned to me.

"You truly are amazing, people are impressed with you everywhere you go."

"People are impressed with you too."

"Haha no way, not in the same way they are you with you. People look at me because I'm big, people look at you because you're beautiful." He said without having second thoughts or regrets.

"You... you think I'm beautiful?" I asked looking at him, and he smiled.

"Of course I do, how could I not? You're beautiful, intelligent, funny and my best friend." He laughed, putting an arm around me. I want him to be the one... I want to be more than best friends with him. Wait, what am I saying?! Kai being the one, I'm not even thinking! *sigh* I think the portal messed my brain up... We arrived at the castle, where two guards opened the door and let us into the main entrance. There, the king of the castle stood on the balcony and stared down at us. The two guards bowed in respect, and Kai removed his arm from around me.

"King Anga, these two would like to have a word with you." Fledge said bowing and the king nodded, dismissing him and Fledge. Fledge turned to me and smiled, "If you need me, I'll be at The Academy of Magic. Good luck!" He smiled.

"Hello King Anga, I am Celia. Princess Celia of The Water Tribe. I am an elemental lion, like my friend here and we were sent by The Spirit Guardian to retrieve your daughter for a mission to save the world."

"Hm, I see. I won't stand in your way or hers, but its up to her whether she wants to go or not." King Anga replied.

"Do you know where she is right now?" I asked, staring at his bleach white fur and light blue mane.

"She's in the courtyard behind the castle, training."

"Thank you so much your majesty." Kai said, bowing. The two of us walked out and headed for the back of the castle. While walking, the two of us made small talk.

"So, did you actually mean what you said earlier?" I asked him, and he smiled as he lifted an eyebrow.

"About how I feel? Yeah, why?"

"Well, I just didn't know that you felt like that..."

"I've always felt like that, Celia. I really care about you." He said, grabbing a rose as we passed a garden. He handed the rose over me, and continued walking.

"You've... always felt that way? You've always cared?"

"Yes, and for a long time I've... wanted for us to be... well... more than fri-" Before he could continue, a spear plummeted into the ground in front of us. No! NO! He... he was going to say it! He was going to say he wanted to be more than friends... right?! Is that weird though... that we feel this way and we're best friends...? Before I could think about the answer to that question, a quick yell came from in front of us. We looked up and a white lion with armor arm swooped in and grabbed the spear. The lion flew up with incredible speed and returned to the courtyard. The lion began fighting another lion in armor, both flying and swooping through the air, stabbing toward each other with their spears. The two of them fought, trying to overpower the other one. It was an intense battle that me and Kai sat amazed at. I was unsure who would win, until the white lion finally overpowered the brown lion, pushing him off balance and kicking him in the chest- sending him falling toward the ground. The white lion crashed down to the ground in a hero pose, and looked over at us.

"Princess Aella?" I asked.

"Yes, and you are?" She said, taking her helmet off and revealing her ice blue eyes and small tuft of white hair.

"I'm Princess Celia from The Water Tribe, and we need your help."


	6. Chapter 6

"My help? With?" Princess Aella asked, still holding her helmet.

"The Spirit Guardian came to us 3 days ago and informed us that a new threat was coming Earth's way. Five elemental lions were chosen to stop the threat, myself included. That also includes the master of fire here- Kai- and yourself. Please, come with us. We must find the other two mastes- master of earth and master of lightning."

"No." Aella said bluntly, with stern expression on her face.

"No? What do you mean 'no'?" Kai asked, "How could you refuse, The Spirit Guardian asked for you specifically?"

"I refuse because my people are in trouble." Aella replied, turning away and looking at the trees leading into the courtyard, "A creature unlike anything we've ever seen before appeared in the woods three days ago. He's a grey beast, with black antlers and grey hair. His eyes are pure white, and has the power of cell regeneration- meaning any injury given to him will heal in a matter of seconds." Kai and I stared at each in confusion.

"How would you even defeat something like that?" Kai asked.

"We're still not sure, and I'm not leaving until then. My people need me, I'm the Commander-in-Chief for The Empire of Magic's armed forces. It's my job to protect my soldiers and my people from... whatever that thing is."

"Then we'll help you defeat it." I offered and Kai agreed without a second thought, "Think of it as a gift from one kingdom to another- one princess to another. I know what it means to care about your people and want to help and protect them. If you're not opposed- we'd love to help you." Aella smiled and a look of confidence appeared on her face.

"That would be great, thank you. A hunting party is going out tomorrow morning to find and kill it, we'll need to get you and your friend will need to get fitted for armor." Me and Kai smiled and followed Aella into the castle where she led us to a room full of weapons and armor- it was the guards quarters. Aella ordered a guard to measure Kai and I, which he did without question. After measuring me, he asked another guard to bring out armor in a size 8. The second guard then brought out silver shoulder pads, a silver chest-plate and silver guantlets and helped me get into them. Guards at The Water Kingdom didn't have armor like this- or at all. When I become queen, I should get them armor- it'd be more effective for them. While I was thinking, the first guard had the second one bring out armor in a size 30- which they only had one set of and was just barely fitting him. Kai's size constantly effected him- he had to eat more, he had trouble getting into places, normal clothes or jewelry couldn't fit him, etc. It used to be a problem that he was sensitive about, but he's moved on since then.

"Would you like a weapon for tomorrow, Princess Celia?" Asked the guard.

"Oh, no thank you I'm fine. I'm confident in my ability to use my powers effectively." I replied and he turned toward Kai.

"Same here, thank you though." He nodded as we gave the armor back. Kai showed us the way to our rooms which were full of silk blankets, giant windows with a beautiful view and jewels imbedded in the wall. None of this impressed Kai, who looked uninterested until Aella told us that there was a 24 hour food bar on the second floor. After wishing us a goodnight, she left our room to go to her own.

"This place is actually really beautiful." Kai said, looking out the window.

"Yeah, I'm really glad I got to come here with you." I smiled at him, as he turned to me.

"Let's go on a vacation together."

"What? What do you mean?"

"After all of this is over- let's go on a vacation together. I like hanging out with you outside of the Water Kingdom."

"I do too... what were you going to say earlier?"

"When?"

"On the way to the courtyard..." His face became darker and he walked over to me. He sighed and closed his eyes before staring down at me.

"I want us to be more than friends. Celia, I love you. I have for a long time, I just haven't told you. I know that your parents want you to marry Mizu and we're just friends- but I want us to be together instead. I'm not royalty, or related to royalty... but I would treat you better than any prince would."

"Kai..." He pulled me into a hug, and laid his head on top of mine.

"I don't need your answer now, I just want you to know." He said, breaking away from the hug and laid down on the bed. I sat down and started thinking. He... loves me? I thought that was what he was going to say earlier... but I wasn't ready to hear it. For most people, it would ruin their friendship... but I care for him too. I want to be with him too because I love him... I walked over to Kai who had rolled over on his back and whose eyes were closed. I kissed his forehead and his eyes shot open.

"Yes..."

"Yes?" He said, rolling over and looking over at me.

"I love you too. I want to be with you... not Mizu. I've pondered for so long about you, about being with you. I've wanted to be with you for so long, and I've wondered this whole trip if you were the one- the one right for me."

"And? Am I?"

"I think you are, I want you to be." And he smiled.

"Only time will tell then." He said, getting off of the bed and hugging me. He kissed the top of my head and wipped away tears that I didn't know I had, "Why are you crying, Celia?"

"I dont know, I didn't know I was..." I smiled, to try and reassure not only him- but myself- that I was okay, "Do you want to go find that 24 hour food bar?"

"I thought you'd never ask." He replied and the two of us walked out of our room to find the food bar and enjoyed the rest of the night eating food and eventually making our way back to the room and falling asleep.

The next morning, Kai and I got up early and put our armor on and headed to the courtyard to find Aella and the hunting party. When we arrived, 15 soldiers stood on the courtyard with spears and golden armor.

"Is Princess Aella here yet?" I asked one of the solders in the front.

"No ma'am, she hasn't come down yet. I think she's putting on her armor." And as quickly as he finished mouthing the words, Aella landed down in front of us from the sky.

"Great, you two are here." She said turning toward the soldiers, who stood up straight, "Soldiers! We're heading into the Ether Woods where the magical creature is. Have your defense up, let today be the last day we fight this beast. Remember- it has healing abilities so we need to hit him quick before he can regenerate. Kai- master of fire- and Princess Celia- master of water- are here to aid us in the fight against the creature. Treat them with respect and follow any orders given to you by them! Is that clear?!"

"Yes ma'am! The soldiers replied in unison.

"Alright, we'll be walking there today. Let's move out!" She yelled and put her helmet on. She turned to us and nodded as we put our helmets on, and followed her. In about 15 minutes, we made it to the woods where Aella stopped and turned to us and the soldiers, "We're going in, ears up eyes open."

"Yes ma'am!" The soldiers said. We walked in and all of the soldiers fanned out with their spears up, searching through the trees and bushes. Some soldiers even began flying and searching up ahead. We walked further and further into the woods, and we were all quiet until one soldier's screams were heard from up ahead. All of us ran forward to look for him, only to find him trapped in vines 25 feet in a tree. Two soldiers flew up to rescue him, while the rest went on alert. Suddenly, a rustling in the woods was heard and a black deer jumped out of the bushes and started running. The soldiers threw spears at it, but most of them missed. One hit him, which he shook out and the wound healed up in a few seconds. In a flash, Aella flew toward the deer and was on top of it. Wow, she's so fast... I didn't even know something other than a jet could move that fast... Just as Aella was about to stab the deer, it rammed its antlers into her helmet. Aella screamed out in pain and fell off the deer.

"Princess Aella!" a few of the soldiers screamed, "The princess is down, get aid to her. The rest of you, attack the beast!" I formed two spheres of water in my paws, and was about to throw them to trip him up when I looked at Kai- eyes white, and inhaling large amounts of air. He blew fire out of his mouth like a dragon, the fire burning the forest around the deer. It burned one of the deer's back legs, and it screamed out in pain as it fell to the ground.

"Master Kai has wounded it! Now, before it heals itself!" One of the soldiers screamed, and the rest of them listened to him and flew down on the deer and attacked and stabbed it. The deer screamed out again before kicking the guards off and hitting them in the face. Some of the soldier's masks got thrown off and there were cuts from the deer's antlers on their face. The one from earlier in particular, had a gash that ran from the top of his head to his jaw bone. He was bleeding and had gone unconscious from the pain.

"Captain Micas been hit! Get him out of here, now now!" A soldier screamed and two guards grabbed him and carried him out of the woods to the hospital. Aella got up and grabbed her spear, "Princess Aella, are you sure you should be up? We can have soldiers escort you out."

"I'm perfectly fine, it's just a scratch. Now attack the deer!" She screamed, and I threw a wave of water at the deer, who got caught up in it and struggled to swim. While he was floating in the water, Aella used her wind powers to create a gust of wind that shot him up into the air. The deer flew just to the top of the trees, and then began slowly falling back to the ground. The deer's eyes fell into panick as he fell for fear of dying. Kai blew fire up at the deer to scare him, and it worked because the deer put its hooves in front of its eyes. Before it could reach the fire, Kai jumped through it and grabbed the deer.

"He's done it... he's done it! Master Kai has captured the beast!" The soldiers cheered, but their cheering stopped as the deer turned white and glowed.

"What's happening?!" Kai screamed.

"I don't know, we've never seen anything like this!" Aella said, as we closed our eyes, as there was a burst of light before the glow went down.

"Congratulations." The deer spoke, now completely white.

"Did it just... who are you?" I asked and it turned to me.

"You know me, we've met before." It replied and turned to look at me, it's eyes staring into mine.

"The Spirit Guardian..." I said quietly, and everyone turned to me.

"Yes, it is I. You have stopped the creature I sent for you."

"Sent for us?" Aella asked.

"Yes, I sent this deer to your kingdom for you to capture. It was a trial, for the 3 of you to learn to work together."

"That's why my men couldn't stop him- he was meant for us... but how did you know we'd work together?"

"You would do anything to protect your family and your people. Celia has a good heart and is always willing to help a person in need and Kai is always ready for a fight and will always follow Celia into battle." All 3 of us looked at each other in amazment, "Next, you must find Azad- master of Earth- in India. A trial is waiting there for you as well, good luck..." He said before disappearing into thin air.

"Well, that was the most interesting thing that will ever or has ever happened here." Aella laughed stoickly, "Why don't you two stay here tonight. It would be an honor to throw the two of you a feast. It was an honor to fight along side you." Kai and I looked at each other before agreeing. Kai picked up 4 badly injured soldiers and carried them on his back to the infirmary at the castle. Later that night, Kai and I attended a feast thrown by Aella and it was amazing. We laughed, joked and ate the night away.


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning, Kai and I traveled to The Sorcerer Academy to see Fledge. We found him eating breakfast in the dining hall and pulled him aside. 

"What are you guys doing here?" Fledge asked excitedly, "Did you get the princess' help? Was your mission successful?"

"Our mission is far from over, but now we have Aella's help. We have to leave The Empire of Magic to get someone else for our team, but before we did we wanted to come by and thank you. We couldn't have gotten where we need to be without you." I smiled, and Fledge hugged me.

"Yes, they're right. And they were lucky to have you." Fledge broke our hug and looked up to see who's voice had said those words. When he did, he was shocked to see Princess Aella walking out from behind a wall and walking toward him. He bowed in her presence, "Stand up Fledge, this is not a formal visit. I wanted to thank you for helping them get to me. Without you, they wouldn't have gotten to me which means they wouldn't have helped save the kingdom. You Fledge, have helped save the kingdom and I will see to it personally that you receive a medal for your help and will pay for all of your books and items while you're at the academy." Fledge's jaw dropped, and he was speechless, "Do you have friends, Fledge?"

"Y-yes your majesty, Caitlyn and Triston. They're the same rank as me here at the academy, we're roommates." He turned back at Caitlyn and Triston who were bowing, but looked up and smiled. Aella gestured for them to come over. Caitlyn was about the normal size for a lion her age, and dyed the tips of her hair blue and had blue wings. Triston was about a foot taller than Caitlyn and had purple and pink wings, his hair was dyed purple. Both of them were a nice sand color and had glasses. They wore brown sorcerer academy robes, and had friendship necklaces on that matched one that Fledge had.

"It's important for you to have friends- good ones. I've read about these two, and they are destined to become great sorcerers one day, and even better friends. I will pay for your entire dorm room to be stripped and have new royal furniture put in." Caitlyn and Triston's mouths dropped and they bowed again. 

"Thank you so much, Princess Aella. I hope you all have a safe travel on your journey. If I might ask... where are the three of you going?" 

"To India." Kai replied.

"India? That will take days- weeks- on foot, and at least a day or two by plane. How about I help the three of you out? I could create a portal to India for you." 

"Really? Would you be willing to?"

"Yes... but a portal to India would take a lot of power. I don't know if I'm strong enough-"

"You don't have to be Fledge. We're here for you." Caitlyn and Triston smiled.

"Alright then, I guess it's settled." Fledge said and the three of them stood in a triangle and started chanting. They started a spell, and a white blur formed in between them. It was swirling and grew bigger and bigger, until it was big enough to walk through. You could see through the other side, and a bright green jungle was on the other side, "There, you now have a portal to India! Thanks you guys." Fledge said hugging Caitlyn and Triston. 

"Thank you for your help, all of you." I said, thanking not only Fledge but Caitlyn and Triston as well. Together, me Kai and Aella walked through the portal and ended up in the jungle. We looked back, to see Fledge who waved goodbye before the portal closed. Now in the jungle, we looked around, but saw no sign of the kingdom. We decided to pick in a direction and started walking. we must've been going the right way because a jaguar jumped out of the trees as if from nowhere and attacked us. Before I had time to attack or move out of the way, it scratched me leaving a 3 inch cut on my right shoulder. I fell to the ground-stunned- and as the jaguar was about to cut my face, Kai stepped in front of me. Without time to stop, the jaguar scratched his arm. 

"Kai..." Kai looked down at the Jaguar darkly, and his eyes became pure white. The jaguar looked up in fear realizing he had made a mistake. Kai's entire body become engulfed in flames, and he lifted a paw to strike the jaguar down, "Kai, Kai! It's okay, I'm okay." I said trying to calm him down. He looked down at me and saw the blood dripping down my arm, and he growled- unable to control himself. He turned back to the jaguar, and smacked it- cutting its face and chest open and sending it flying through the jungle, where we couldn't see. we heard the sound of a tree breaking in the jungle, and I stared at Kai. I looked for Aries, but she was up in the trees on lookout, "Kai... what did you do?"

"What I had to, to protect you." He said looking at me, his eyes still white.

"You probably killed him! You didn't need to send him into the void to protect me."

"He already hurt you once, I wasn't going to let him hurt you again..."

"I was fine-"

"CELIA!" He screamed, the flames growing larger, "I did what I had to so you wouldn't get hurt- end of story." He said, starting to walk away before Aella landed on the ground with a jaguar guard underneath her. 

"A guard... a spy." She said, holding his arm behind his back.

"You just made my day..." Kai said lowly, almost inaudible. 

"Stop!" An unfamiliar voice said, and 4 guards dropped to the ground with spears pointed at us. 

"I am not in the mood to play games!" Kai screamed, and the guard who spoke had the other 3 lower their spears.

"I know. There's no doubt about it, with that height and those flames, you are Kai- master of fire and all things hot. We know Princess Aella, and since you two are elemental lions- we're guessing that lioness behind you is one as well. That can only mean one thing- you need King Azad." 

We were now walking through the jungle toward the kingdom. Kai had finally calmed down, and was carrying me on his back. Aella- though she could've flown there by now- was walking with us instead. 

"How did you catch our guard?" The main guard asked Aella.

"He wasn't hidden very stealthily." She replied bluntly and we all turned to the guard who smiled sheepishly. He was holding his arm, which was still hurting from earlier when Aella had pushed him out of the tree and slammed him onto the ground. 

"Well, I'm just glad you didn't hurt him too bad. Though I can't say the same for our other guard." He said turning to Kai, "You really did a number on him, I've never seen anyone do something like that..." And Kai's eyes widened. 

"He was... a guard?" 

"Yes, he was undercover and you hit him like he was a baseball." Kai looked down, pain apparent on his face though I know he would never admit he felt bad.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"We don't know honestly... I had a guard go and get him earlier and take him to the hospital. The doctors saw there are giant gashes across his face and chest, and that he lost a lot of blood. They say they won't know if he'll be okay until after surgery." Kai didn't respond and stared down at the ground, "Well, don't get too down about it. I'm sure he'll be okay. Right now, let's just focus on you getting to King Azad." He said as we walked through a golden entrance and through a tunnel. On the other side was a large city, full of huts and small buildings. Lions lived there with their families. Some lions had jobs serving food, or delivering drinks. Small cubs ran through the streets playing or running toward their families, there was even a group a lions putting on a play. The entire kingdom was surrounded by large, vibrant trees and flowers. There were fruit trees of every kind, and even a hot spring. After a while of walking through the kingdom, we arrived at the palace. It was made out of cobblestone and had gold accents. 

The guards took us inside the kingdom, where we waited in the entry way. One guard went up the stairs, and talked to a butler. She nodded and walked down a hallway on the second floor. The guard returned to us, and explained that the butler was going to get Azad and he would be here shortly. 

"Are you badly hurt?" A guard asked, turning to me and pointed at the cut, "What happened?"

"Oh, this? That happened when your undercover guard came out..."

"Does it hurt?"

"Yes..." 

"It'd be a shame for such a pretty lady to be hurt. Maybe I can help fix that." A warm voice said, and I turned to the top of the stairs where the noise came from. At the top of the stairs stood a lion, who's coat was gold. He had a mane the color of chocolate and emerald green eyes. He wore a warm smile and looked down at me and Kai. It was none other than King Azad.


	8. Chapter 8

King Azad walked down the stairs and stared at Kai for a minute before smiling and giving him a hug.   
"How have you been?" He asked Kai before walking over to me, "You must be doing well since I see you have a girlfriend- or at least close female companion."   
"I have. This is Princess Celia, of The Water Kingdom- and she happens to be my girlfriend, but she needs help."  
"I'm okay, it's just a scratch." I said, trying to reassure Kai as I put my head in his shoulder as he put me down, "It's nice to meet you King Azad."  
"And you as well." He replied, as he stepped closer to look at the cut, "Hm, this cut- while not too long in length- is a bit deeper than it appears. I can heal it though, and it won't take too long. Flora!" He yelled turning to his butler, "Set up a healing lavender hot spring, have a room set up for Kai and Celia as well as a separate room for Princess Aella and tell the kitchen to start setting up a small feast."  
Flora said a quick 'yes sir' before rushing off to do as she was told.   
Azad put his paw up and a bright glow appeared in the center of his paw, before a string of seaweed appeared and wrapped around my cut. It was wet and cold, but the cold chill brought a feeling of relief.   
"Aella- one of my closest friends- let's catch up after I help Celia. You two-" he said gesturing to me and Kai, "come with me." Azad said, turning to walk away. Aella nodded before walking away with the guards.  
After a minute or two of walking, we arrived outside at a hot spring. It was different from the hot spring in the city, and was full of gold pillars and statues. Everywhere you could walk that wasn't a hot spring had marble flooring. We arrived at a hot spring that smelled like lavender and had a butler pouring healing water into it. Azad held his paw up to the hot spring and lavender petals shot out of the center of his paw into the hot spring.   
"This is your hot spring, you can stay in as long as you'd like. We have clothes for you to wear after you get out of the hot spring, and if you'd like- I can send a butler or guard out here to hold your towel until you get out."  
"Oh, thank you. But a person to hold my towel isn't necessary."  
"Alright, then you're all set. Do you need anything else?"  
"Just a question." I asked as Kai helped me into the hot spring.   
"And that is?"  
"The Spirit Guardian said you were a master of earth, but is that just limited to plants and flowers?"  
"Oh, no it's much more broad than that. I'm about to create and move land masses with my mind, control and create plants, flowers and fruit and talk to animals- among other things." My eyes lit up, and he laughed before walking away. The water of the hot spring came up to about my chest, so I slumped down and rested against the rocks so the water could reach my shoulder. I looked up and Kai was pacing around worriedly.   
"Will you stop pacing around already, you're making me nervous. I'm fine." He stopped and looked at me with worry behind his eyes though he tried to hide it. He walked around the hot spring and laid down near the top where my head was. I gave him a quick peck on the cheek, but it didn't phase him, "You're worries about that guard... aren't you?" He looked at me, and even though he said nothing I knew that I had hit the nail on the head, "Why don't you go to the hospital and check on him and meet me at the castle for dinner?"   
"Alright..." All seven feet of him lifted up off the ground and he began walking toward the city to find the hospital.   
While I was in the hot spring, I started thinking about when me and Kai were little, and I slowly drifted into a dream. I could see 10 year old Kai, his mane not fully grown in yet, but a long piece of orange and yellow hair coming out of his hair and covering the right side of his face like the lead singer of an emo boy band. And there was Kane- who was 9- and had a small tuft of blue hair sprouting out of his head. The two of them were best friends and hung out all the time. I was only 7, but I still played with them. Kai and I became friends very quickly, and he would play with me when I was bored. Even at 10 years old he was tall. He was 4'5 and towered over Kane and I despite Kane only being a year younger than him. When he still lived with us, he would always go out by the ocean and look at the moon or watch the waves. One night, I followed him and asked him what he was doing. He told me that when he looked out at the ocean or looked up at the stars he thought of his parents. But instead of being sad, he remembered the happy memories with them. That night he let me sit on his shoulders and look up at the moon with him. We did that every night until he left. And when Kane died a few years later and Kai came by, we would look up at the stars to remember him too. I miss those moments with him.   
"Celia... Celia!" I heard a voice calling. I opened my eyes and it Kai. He was smiling at me with worried eyes, "Are you okay? Are you ready to get out?"  
"I... I just got in though. And I thought you were going to the hospital?"  
"Baby, I already did, that was an hour ago."   
"Oh..." I looked down at the water. I can't believe that was already an hour ago... Kai held out a paw to help me get out and gave me a towel.   
"Well, your cut looks better." He said happily, while I dried off. I looked over at my shoulder, and the seaweed had fallen off. Sure enough- he was right, it did look better. It had gone from a bloody red to a light pink and was healing. We began walking back to the door when originally went through to get out to the hot spring.   
"How was your trip to the hospital. Is that guard okay?" He sighed.   
"They... the doctors said that he'll never see out of his left eye again and might not ever use his left arm again. Though with therapy, he might be able to... I broke almost all of his ribs which they said if wouldn't have been there, I probably would've sliced through his heart open and killed him on impact. He's got a back injury from slamming into a tree and it's a miracle he's not paralyzed. They also said he woke up with no memory, but that it's not permanent and it's already been coming back piece by piece. He's super okay with everything since he's on pain meds, and mainly just wants ice cream and fruit... but he'll never be able to resume work as a royal guard again..."  
"Kai..." I looked at him shocked, as we walked through the hallway and toward the dinning room.  
"I know I know... and there's nothing I can do for him which is a sucky feeling. I thought I had better control of my emotions...." He said somberly as a tear fell down his face. It caught on fire and dissipated as if it was never there in the first place. I gave him a hug and he stopped walking. One giant paw wrapped around me, and I could hear his heart beat slow down to a calm level.   
"All you can do is move forward. I'm sure he'll have a good recovery, especially with the healing hot springs." A look of relief appeared on his face.  
"Yeah, you're right..." He looked down at me and smiled. He leaned down and before our faces could be close the double doors behind up flew open.  
"There you guys are, I was wondering when you would get out of the hot spring." Aella said not realizing she had interrupted a rather tender moment, "The food is ready." Kai looked at me with excitement in his eyes- a much different look than the worried one he wore only a few seconds ago. If there was anything that could snap Kai out of a bad mood- it was food.  
When we walked into the dining room, the entire room was made out of gold and a black marble table sat in the middle. It was covered in food from one end to the other. There was fish, dumplings, fruit, a whole roasted pig and so much more. Azad sat at the end of the table, and there were two lions near him that I hadn't seen or met before. I sat on the other end which was closest to the door, where Kai and Aella sat. 

"Celia, how are you? Did the hot spring help?" Azad asked, smiling as a butler filled his cup with a red liquid that I assumed was wine.

"It was wonderful, thank you. It was very rejuvenating." 

"I'm glad. I'd like you to meet Princess Marble and Prince Grant- my brother and sister." I looked over and the two lions I hadn't met before smiled. 

"It's wonderful to meet you two, I'll be sure to invite you two the next time The Water Kingdom holds a ball. I'm sure my parents and my subjects would love to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you as well, Princess Celia." Marble said, and Grant nodded his head. We began getting food and talking. 

"Aella, how have things been at The Empire of Magic?" Azad asked, taking a sip of his drink and grabbing a piece of bread.

"Everything's been pretty normal. Trade has been good, crime has been down, and the academy and military academy has been producing top notch students and soldiers. We haven't been fighting with The Eterno Kingdom, so that's good."

"Is the wedding still set?" He asked, and Aella looked down sadly. Kai stopped eating and looked over at Aella and Azad. What wedding? I wasn't told about a wedding.

"Yes..." Aella said with anger and pain in her voice.

"I look forward to getting an invitation. I'm here for you, okay?" Azad said trying to cheer her up, but Aella's mood was unchanged.

"What wedding...?" I asked, seeming to be the only one at the table confused.

"I'm getting married in a few months..." Aella replied.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Yes, but not for me- for my people. When I was little- about 6 or 7 years old- my kingdom was at war with The Eterno Kingdom. They're another magical kingdom in a portal above Spain, and its full of winged jaguars. My father and the king of their kingdom couldn't agree on trading issues, so they decided to start a war with us. My mother- the queen and commander of our military- led our troops into battle and our kingdom won most of them. The Eterno Empire sent us a message setting a meeting place and time for a battle. I had been training ever since I was little, and I was one of the best soldiers- my mother made sure of that. My mother, who was confident in my abilities, let me come to the battle. We were on the way when we were ambushed. They had sent their troops to our kingdom early to stop us and destroy the kingdom while we were gone. We won the battle... but it was a loss for our kingdom. The king... he was there and he... he murdered my mom. I remember watching her fall to the ground, and zooming down to catch her. Flying so fast, the worried tears were flying off my face. I caught her but struggled to hold her as we fell to the ground. I tried to get her to wake up, but she was already dead when I caught her..." Aella paused in the story and looked up to see that I was crying and even Kai had a tear falling down his face, "Sorry, I'll just skip to the important part. The king killing my mother was accident, an accident that I made him pay for. My father made him agree to stop the war and allow the trade deals our kingdom wanted. He has a son whose the same age I am, and we're getting married to merge the two kingdoms..."

"And I'm guessing you don't like him?" 

"No, I don't. Prince Valencio has an ego the size of Europe, is selfish and is just plain stupid. He's not king or husband material. I don't love him or even like him... but our marriage can help save my kingdom from future wars and conflicts with their kingdom. It will increase trade and security... it's what's best..." I wanted to say something, but I didn't know what to say. It was wrong, but it was for her kingdom. I'm at a loss for words... Aella could see my confusion, and grabbed some fruit from the table, "Well, this is all besides the point. Azad, we've come here for your help."

"Oh, is that so? Do tell."

"The Spirit Guardian contacted me and Celia," Kai started, " There's a threat and it's up to us to stop it. He asked for a team: you, myself, Celia, Aella and a lion named Arashi."

"And where do we find this Arashi?" Azad asked, handing plates of fish and fruit over to his brother and sister, before grabbing a plate for himself.

"In Tokyo, it should be an interesting trip. Do you remember last time we went to Tokyo?" Kai asked, beginning to laugh.

"Of course, we had a sushi eating contest- which I won." Azad said, feeling proud of himself. 

"You had a sushi eating contest Kai?" I asked, laughing a little bit, trying to destress from Aella's story.

"Yep, but he's lying. I won that contest." He said with a smirk, grabbing an entire fish and eating it whole.

"Don't let him fool you princess, I won."

"Well then I guess I'll have to show you up- again Azad."

"Aw, I can't believe you want to lose in front of your girlfriend." Kai laughed and pulled me closer to him, causing me to blush.

"We'll see Azad- we'll see." The six of us continued to eat and eventually dinner became more light-hearted and we started telling jokes and stories. When dinner ended, we formed a plan to get to Tokyo, and then left to go to our rooms. Kai and I shared a room, while Aella had her own room a few doors down from us. Kai went into the room, and before Aella could go into her room I stopped her. 

"Aella... I'm really sorry about what happened to your mother, and that you have to go through with this whole wedding thing. I really wish things were different for you. If you ever need my help of the help of The Water Kingdom- please let me know." She sighed and put a paw on my shoulder.

"Thank you Celia, you're going to make an amazing queen one day. I'll be at your wedding, just let me know when."

"My wedding? W-what are you talking about?"

"You and Kai, he's perfect for you and you're perfect for him. As someone who doesn't get to marry for love- take my advice. Not everyone is lucky enough to marry someone they love and share a connection with- so don't lose Kai. He'll take care of you and will be a great king. Kai is the one." She smiled before walking into her room. 

I thought about what she said and walked into my room. It was dark, and the moon was shining through a window next to our bed. Kai was laying on the silk sheets of our bed and lifted his head up when I walked in. 

"What's up? You have a look on your face that I've never seen before. What does it mean?" I walked over to him and laid on the bed. I looked up at him, and his silver eyes were shining down at me, "Baby, are you okay?" I smiled and put a paw on his shoulder. I kissed his cheek and laid my head on his chest.

"You're the one."

"What?"

"Remember when we were talking and I told you I thought you might be the one and I wanted you to be? You are the one, I know now. I'm sorry I ever doubted that you were. I've always felt something special towards you, even when we were little and I know you have too. I'm sorry I took so long, and made you wait." Kai didn't say anything, he just looked down at me. He looked down at me with seriousness in his eyes. I wondered if he was mad, but before I could ask he leaned down and kissed me. 

"I would've waited a life time for you Celia. You're absolutely worth it. You weren't making me wait- I was waiting for my wife."

"...You want me to be your wife?" 

"Yes, but only if that's what you want as well."

"Of course it is." I thought about what Aella said, '...don't lose Kai.', "I don't want to lose you Kai."

"You won't ever lose me baby. I promise." He laid his head down on my back and closed his eyes. I looked at him with the moonlight shining on him. His coffee colored fur was so beautiful. Eventually I fell asleep looking at him, and the two of us slept until someone came to get us for breakfast in the morning.


	9. Chapter 9

After eating breakfast, the four of us traveled to the airport and got on a plane. Now, we were in Japan looking around. We didn't have any information on how to find Arashi, so the only thing we could do was look around.

"How are we supposed to find him? Everybody's looking at us weird and almost everything is written in Japanese." Kai asked, trying not to step on small children.

"Well, let's think. We're all animal-like creatures that are much larger-and more colorful- than our actual lion counterparts. That's probably disturbing to these people because they haven't seen creatures like us before. Arashi must be in a different part of Tokyo, where people actually know about him and some of them might have actually seen him before." Aella replied.

"Yeah, you're right." I said and looked over at Kai, who somehow had time to find a cake and was eating it hungrily. I don't think Kai ever gets full, "Do you guys want to go north by train then?"

"Well... I uh, I'm... big and I don't know that the train can hold me..." Kai said, embarrassed. Azad placed a paw on his shoulder.

"You've got this buddy, I'm sure you'll be able to fit. And if you're not- we'll figure something out." Kai smiled weakly and hugged Azad.

We made our way to the train station, and Kai had to crouch to fit inside. The people saw that we wanted to board and left a train car for us to get in. Maybe they did it because they were scared, but we weren't questioning it. Aella, Azad and I walked inside the car and looked out at Kai. He looked at the doors confused, as if they were a puzzle. He walked up to the doors and laid down. When he did, his face appeared in the doorway. He forced his head in, but couldn't fit his shoulders inside. He stared at me sadly with big puppy dog eyes. He continued trying to squeeze in, and after a few seconds the doors turned red with heat and started to melt enough for him to get through. Once inside, the car sank down and scrapped against the railing. He had to lay down just to fit inside, and I sat down next to him.

"What was that..?" I asked.

"The doors melting? It's a skill I have, which allows me to heat up objects around me."

"That's incredible Kai!" I said smiling. The train began to move, and our subway car continued to scrape against the railing and created this screeching sound- but we moved nonetheless. After about 10 minutes, we made it to another train station, where Kai once again had difficulty getting out. Azad and Kai found a sushi shop that was apparently somewhere they went every time they came to Japan and decided to have a sushi eating contest. Me and Aella watched for a while, but after they hit 5lbs of sushi we decided to go look for clues. Aella took to the skies, while I walked around. The buildings were so beautiful and the streets were clean. I wonder how my home would look if it was this big... Kane would love it here... While in thought a little boy bumped into my leg. He stared up at me before gushing with joy.

"Another big lion? You're so pretty, are you a girl lion?" He asked smiling.

"Yes, I am. Wait- another? Is there another lion like me?"

"He is storm?"

"Storm?"

"He makes storms, he is my friend." This is perfect, "Can you do storms too?"

"No, but I can do this." I said, creating a small wave of water around him. It was beautiful as the sun was shining down on it, and the little boy dipped his hands in and laughed, "What's your name?"

"Haru!" He smiled excitedly.

"Okay then Haru, could you take me to your friend?" He nodded and smiled. I picked him up and put him on my shoulders, "We're going to go get some of my friends, and they can do tricks too."

"Yay!" He laughed as we walked back towards the sushi shop. I'm actually starting to really like this little kid.

We arrived at the sushi shop after a few minutes of walking, and when we went inside Kai and Azad were gone. I looked around frantically trying to figure out where they could be when a calico cat jumped over the counter. She was bigger and had a headband and sushi apron on.

"You lookin' for the other two?" She asked, with a smirk.

"Yes, do you know where they went?"

"I know where they are. They're in the underground sushi club."

"What?!"

"Yeah, they've been members of the club for years. Come with me." She said walking towards the kitchen. I was confused, but followed her nonetheless. We passed through the kitchen to a black door in the back. She jumped through a dog door on the bottom and I pushed the door open. When I did, there were stairs leading down toward a platform at the bottom. There were stands where both people and animals were watching and cheering. On the platform was a table with sushi on it and- of course- Kai and Azad were sitting at the table. I sighed almost disappointed but not surprised. I walked down the stairs toward the table, with the cat who then jumped on the table and grabbed a microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our reigning champs Kai and King Azad have now reached 30lbs of sushi!" 30lbs?! Of course Kai... The cat then handed Azad and Kai another plate of sushi, as a human came over to the microphone and repeated the same thing for the human audience.

"Thanks Sophia." Kai said weakly, shoving the entire plates worth of sushi into his mouth. Sophia? They really have been coming here for years... "Oh, Celia! You come to see your man with this contest?" He smiled, gesturing for Sophia to bring another plate which she happily complied.

"No Kai, this kid agreed to take us to Arashi."

"Oh, that's great. I have to beat Azad first though." He said, smirking at Azad who clearly struggling to keep up with Kai.

"No! I have to beat you Kai!" Azad said, his head falling onto the table. Sophia came over and handed them another plate.

"This is pound 31 boys, can you handle it Azad?"

"I... I can.. do it." He said, head lifting off of the table and staring at the sushi. He grabbed a roll and stared at it. He then looked up at Kai who downed the whole plate. Azad looked wearily at the sushi before accepting defeat and putting the roll back on the table.

"And we have a winner!" Sophia yelled through the microphone, trying to hold up Kai's paw, "And a new record has been set at 31lbs!" Boys... I walked over to Kai and looked up at him. I must've looked serious, because Kai stood up and began walking toward the stairs. Azad, however, was halfway conscious on the table.

"Azad, can you stand?"

"Yeah... probably... maybe... I don't know..." He said before throwing up.

"Again Azad?" I heard a voice say. I turned around and say Aella walking down the stairs and coming to get Azad.

"You knew about the club too Aella?"

"Yep, I've been coming here to get Azad for years. He thinks he can keep up with Kai but he cant, and ends up eating until he throws up." Wow, that's insane. Kai really is the reigning champ. I looked over and Kai was slowly but surely walking up the stairs, "Celia, since you have the boy we need you to lead the way. I'll bring Azad and meet you, okay?"

"Yeah, okay." Said, walking with Kai out of the shop.

"See? I'm a winner." Kai said, burping.

"You've always been a winner to me." I smiled.

"So, who is this little guy?"

"Oh, this is Haru. Apparently, he's friends with Arashi and agreed to take us to him."

"Big boy!" Haru screamed at Kai, and Kai laughed, "What do you do big boy?"

"What does he mean?"

"I told him you have powers and he wants to know what they are." Kai smiled and created a flame in his paw. Haru stared at it surprised, and his eye lit up like fireworks.

"Fire boy..." Haru said in amazement.

"Yes Haru, he's the fire boy." I laughed and Kai smiled, "Will you take us to your storm friend now?" Haru nodded, and pointed in a direction. We followed Haru's directions and eventually arrived at a temple. It was dark and there were stone statues everywhere. Haru slid off my shoulders and ran up the stairs and into the darkness laughing. Aella flew down and landed next to us with Azad on her back. Azad got off and stood up. He looked shaky and sick, but he was standing up now which was an improvement. I wonder what Aella did.

Before I had the chance to ask, dark paws emerged from the darkness. Then a dark face emerged. He was a brownish grey color and had a black mane. It was curly, like a storm cloud, and a gold stripe in it. His eyes were golden yellow and they pierced into us as he looked down with anger, or maybe disgust at us.

"What were you doing with Haru?" He asked in a serious tone, and deep voice.

"He bumped into me in the streets. We were looking for you and he agreed to take us to you." I said, kind of scared yet holding my ground. He looked at me, and I smiled weakly. His gaze became gentle.

"Come with be, it'll me dark soon." He said turning to walk inside. We looked at each other and walked inside.


	10. Chapter 10

From the outside, you would think that there wasn't much to the temple. The temple was rather small, and was surrounded by trees and bamboo. When we walked inside, Arashi took us through a passage that seemed almost as if it was a secret. When we came out of the other side, it was like paradise. There was a lake with a rock path that led to a house. It was beautiful and had shoji screens, cherry blossom trees and bamboo. This was Arashi's home, it's hidden in secret which is why he's The Ghost of the Mountain... He took us to his home and made tea. When the tea was finished and everyone had a cup, Arashi spoke.

"Why were you looking for me?"

"The Spirit Guardian... he told us that there was a calamity- a threat- that's rising. He told us to assemble a team of the four of us... and you." Kai replied, and Arashi put his cup down. He stood up and was about to leave.

"There are plenty of rooms for you all to stay in, please help yourselves to any extra blankets or pillows. If you'll please excuse me... I'd like to go outside and be alone." He said before walking away. 

"We all stared at each other, but said nothing. Azad and Aella went to one hallway and found rooms. Kai and I walked to the other hallway and found a room together. Kai- who had been to Japan many times- knew exactly what a futon was and began setting it up. He laid down and pulled me down with me. We began cuddling and he smiled. Because he was so much bigger than I was, his body was basically a blanket. 

"Japan is so beautiful..." I said smiling.

"It is, I love it here."

"You wanted to go on vacation right? Why don't we come here?"

"Absolutely... but I was thinking that we could... come here on our honeymoon." I turned over and looked over at him. I smiled and we shared a kiss. I laid my head on his chest, and my expression changed. I'm not sure how, but he felt this and looked at me.

"What's wrong? We don't have to come here, I just thoug-"

"It's fine, I would love to come here for our honeymoon. But... I'm worried about Arashi."

"I'm sure he's fine."

"That's just a guy thing, isn't it?"

"What is?"

"Keeping in your emotions and not saying."

"Well, kind of. But I share my emotions, or at least I try to. I'd share my emotions and feelings... with you. But not all guys are as open. Maybe he just doesn't like to share? I don't know, I'm not going to push the issue."

"I should go talk to him... he seemed hurt."

"Babe, don't worry about it. If he wanted to share, he would." I stood up and looked back to see Kai pouting that I got up.

"I'm going to go check on him, I... I feel like he needs it." I said, smiling and walking out. I was walking through the hallways and looked around at picture frames. There were a lot of pictures of Haru. I found a doorway that led to outside and saw Arashi standing on a bridge and looking out at the lake. Though I knew the others would defend me and Kai was like an army that would probably choke Arashi if he looked at me wrong, Arashi still made me nervous. He was probably 7 feet tall, and was muscular. Not as much muscle as Kai, but enough that I would definitely not be able to hold my ground in a fight. He looked like the type of guy who'd bite for getting too close. I walked up cautiously and his golden eyes turned toward me. They almost... glowed. It was like he had two glowsticks for eyes. 

"H-hey Arashi, I wanted to thank you for letting us stay at your place tonight..."

"You're welcome." He said bluntly.

"You seemed sad... are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" I said, placing a paw on his shoulder. His fur became like static and shocked me, "Ow!" I looked up at him with sad eyes. He looked down at me and for a second, he let his guard down and there was sadness behind his eyes. I could tell he was sorry, as he looked back at the lake. 

"Look, my parents... they were terrible. I never got to just be a cub or be happy or express myself. Why does The Spirit Guardian want me? Why am I good enough to be on the team? I just don't know..."

"Well, I think you just have to trust that you're the right choice- that you are good enough. I didn't think I was good enough either at first. I wondered what made The Spirit Guardian think I had what it takes to not die in the fight, and save humanity." He turned over to me.

"And how did you overcome that?"

"Well, I had Kai. Having a friend in the fight made it seem less scary. Knowing that I wasn't alone, and that there was probably someone just as scared as I was made me... less scared. I mean, The Spirit Guardian isn't stupid. Out of all of the lions- the ones we know about and the ones we don't- he chose us. He can see into our future and path, so he must know that we're a good choice... right?" I asked smiling. 

"You're right..." He said, a small hint of a smile forming before he started walking away, "You should get some rest Celia. Thank you... for the pep talk." He walked away and I stared out at the cherry blossom tree. It's so beautiful... I really do want to come here on our honeymoon... Oh boy, I wonder how my parents will take the news. Knowing my mother, she'll just be relieved I'm getting married. She's been suspicious that me and Kai had feelings for a while now, and my father? He probably won't even care. If it were anyone else, he'd try and act all tough and try to intimidate the guy- but seeing as how my father is rather tall and Kai towers over him, that's probably not going to happen. I wish Kane were here, he'd be excited... really excited. He'd even help plan the wedding... I miss him...

"Celia?" I turned to see Kai.

"Oh, Kai. When did you get here? I thought you were in bed."

"I was, but after a while I began to wonder where you were. I went to go look for you and found you out here by yourself. Did the talk go well?"

"Yeah, it did actually. I think I actually got through to him. He thanked me for the pep talk, and I think he actually... smiled." I said and the two of us laughed. 

"Well c'mon, let's go back to bed. It's getting late, and now that the team is together, the calamity could happen any day now."

"Yeah... you're right. Let's go." I said, wrapping an arm around him. Together we walked back to our room and cuddled until we fell asleep.

In the morning, Kai and I woke up and sat at the table were Arashi had made tea and rice for breakfast. Azad and Arashi were at the table and had begun eating. The two of us sat down and began eating breakfast. We made small talk while eating, and all seemed to be going well until Aella arrived. I was wondering where she was until she flew through the temple and landed on the table.

"You need to turn on the tv- NOW!" She said, sounding more serious than I've ever heard her. Arashi took us to a room with a small tv and turned it on. The man on the news spoke Japanese and all of us looked at Arashi for translation.

"Oh no..."

"Oh no? What does 'oh no' mean?" Kai asked. 

"The man on the news... he's saying that there's a lion in China. He's terrorizing a city called Fenghuang City... thousands are already dead, and apparently the lion has no intention of stopping... ghosts have also been reported and are destroying buildings. The city will be destroyed in a few hours..." All five of us looked at the tv in horror, before running out of the temple and making our way to China. 

After a few hours, we arrived in Fenghuang City. Bodies and ghosts were everywhere, and buildings were destroyed. There wasn't anything left. We walked around for a second, before a dark figure appeared from behind the ruble. 

"Who are you?!" Kai screamed, and a devilish smile appeared on the figure's face.

"I, am Umbra."


	11. Chapter 11

"I, am Umbra." He said, smiling.

"Why are you doing this?" I screamed, desperation in my voice from seeing all of the bodies on the ground.

"Well, it's their own fault really." All of us looked at each other in shock. He's an absolute lunatic... "Long ago, this city was nothing but a few dozen buildings. It was a relatively small fishing village. In this village there lived a guardian, or what the people called a spirit. He could control, see and communicate with ghosts and the dead. For fear of being tortured or harmed when they die, or when their loved ones died, the people of the village worshipped the spirit. They gave him offerings and gifts. That spirit was an old relative of mine- an ancestor who had the power of ghost- or the power to communicate and control all things dead. That power got passed on throughout my family, but when it was my turn to take over the mantle- the people abandoned me... They stopped giving offerings and gifts, they stopped worshipping me. They stopped caring! So what other choice did I have but to destroy them?! They caused their own destruction! I'm like a prince of darkness- of death! Or better yet- a demon. I'm the demon of death! They want to betray and and abandon the demon of death?- Than I'll show them what the demon of death can do!" He said laughing maniacally. He lifted a paw up to his mouth while he laughed, and I saw something I didn't know was there before- he had a metal arm. I wonder what happened to him. I... I think he's just hurting.

"You can't just destroy whatever you want because you're angry. That's not how the world works- that's not how life works!" Kai yelled, stepping forward with the anger basically radiating off of him so much it was visible.

"Oh whatever jumbo, you're just talking nonsense. You look pretty angry to me- like you wanna destroy me. So why don't you come try?" I was appalled by Umbra's straight forward nature. Umbra wasn't as big as Kai, but that's not to say that he was small. He was muscular and was about 6'5 and taller than most of our team. Even if I was as big as Umbra, I wouldn't dare challenge Kai. Fire is such a delicate, yet powerful thing. It can cause chaos and destruction in the blink of an eye. It can destroy whole cities and families without a second thought- and I truly believe that Kai is the living embodiment of fire itself. I looked over at Kai who looked ready to kill Umbra, and before I could turn to look at him, Umbra had picked up a boulder and thrown it at Kai. It was moving too fast for Kai to react and move out of the way, so it slammed into him, dragging him off of his feet and sending him flying into a pile of bricks. He landed with a crash that sounded like a building collapsing, and was immediately knocked out. I ran to Kai and tried to move the boulder but didn't have the strength. Aella and Arashi started a frontal assault, while Azad came over to me. 

"He's... he's going to be okay... right?" I asked looking up at Azad with tears starting to form in my eyes. 

"Yeah, he'll be alright. He's been hit with much worse. He's going to be royally mad though, so you need to step away. I've never known anyone besides Kai who can get angry enough to take themselves out of an unconscious state, so he's going to wake up- very very soon. And when he does, things are going to get bad. For Umbra at least, which is why Aella and Arashi are fighting. They're kind of a distraction until he wakes up. Kai is going to absolutely lose it when he wakes up, so we're just going to let him rage on Umbra for a while. Don't wake a sleeping dragon, right?" He replied laughing, and walking with me as we moved away. And sure enough- Azad was right. After we moved away, smoke started billowing out from under the boulder. It was dark and made the air thick. There was a low growl, deeper than I've ever heard before and then suddenly the boulder broke into what seemed like a thousands pieces. Under the boulder and on top of the pile of bricks was Kai, who's eyes had become white and who's body was engulfed in flames. Kai let out a roar so deep that it even scared me. Aella and Arashi stopped what they were doing when they heard this and moved away from Umbra- who looked scared, rightfully so. Kai than ran at a speed I didn't know he was capable of and bulldozed Umbra. It sent him flying and he scrapped against the ground. Kai went after him and grabbed him by his throat and kept slamming him into the ground, the sound like a percussionist on a set of drums. He scratched his body leaving cuts that were sure to scar and might never fully heal. Umbra's dark grey almost black fur was covered with so much blood, someone might think his fur color was red instead. Kai then proceed to pick him up and slam his body around some more.

"So, are we just going to let him rage on Umbra by himself?" Aella asked, as the four of us huddled to try and make a game plan. 

"We don't have to, but do you want to be the one to take away the walking fire's toy- because I don't. I know me and Kai are friends, but I've never seen him like this and genuinely have no idea what he would do to me right now." Azad replied.

"Do we help him then?" Arashi asked.

"Does it look like he needs help? He's shaking him like a rag doll." Azad said, but spoke too soon. We looked over and Kai had Umbra pinned on the ground. You would've thought that Umbra would be too tired or hurt to fight- but it was just the opposite. He held up a paw and a flash of green light appeared in his paw before blasting Kai in the face, tossing him off of Umbra. Kai's flames went out, and his eyes returned to normal.

"You didn't like that, did you big guy? It's called undead energy, its the energy from doomed souls and ghosts. It's pretty powerful stuff and there's more where it came from." 

"Okay never mind, let's help him!" Azad yelled. 

"Alright I'll provide aerial support. Celia, you go give Kai backup. Azad, use your power and try and throw him off balance, and Arashi- bring the thunder and the lightning. We'll need it." Aella said, like the captain and warrior she is. We all nodded in agreement and went to go do our jobs. Aella took off like a jet, and Arashi's eyes began to a glow a deep gold because storm clouds began to grow and thunder that was gradually getting louder could be heard. I ran to Kai while Azad lifted up pieces of the ground beneath Umbra. It threw him off balance, and Aella began swooping in and attacking in a fury of teeth and claws. 

"Kai, are you okay?" I asked, and looked at his eyes that were filled with rage. 

"I'm going to kill him."

"Kai..."

"I won't let him win. He won't get away with killing all these innocent people-it's not right." He said before getting up and throwing balls of fire at Umbra. Umbra got hit a few times but quickly learned how to avoid them. He eventually escaped the constantly moving ground that Azad was creating. It was like a game of wack-a-mole and Umbra was the mole, but he escaped nonetheless. He started firing shots at Aella, who dodged thanks to her impressive aerial combat skills and in the blink of an eye a bolt of lightning struck Umbra and stopped him in his tracks. Umbra's pink eyes grew wide and looked at Arashi.

"Ow, that HURT!" He screamed before sending undead energy toward Arashi who got hit. Unfortunately, it was only a distraction so that Umbra could run up to Arashi. When he did, he used his metal arm to grab Arashi and throw him a few feet to his right. With his back turned, I used this chance to throw sharpened droplets of water at him. They stung his back and created small pools of blood. He turned to me and growled, but his expression changed when Kai stepped in front of me. Kai's eyes had turned from anger to a blood lusting rage, "Oh c'mon Kai, don't be like that. I want to fight you the most, you know why? Because you're a challenge- a threat. And I LOVE a challenge!" Kai apparently loves a challenge too because he charged at Umbra. Aella dove down toward him like a falcon, Arashi got up and began running. Azad and I looked at each other and nodded before also running at Umbra. All of us dog-piled onto him Umbra was overwhelmed. 

"Not so tough now, are you ghost-lover?" Azad joked.

"You know what? You have friends to help you, so why don't I call SOME OF MINE?!" Umbra yelled, and fear grew in me. Umbra began glowing and then a blast of green energy flew out and sent all five of us flying backwards. Meniacal laughter came from Umbra as he sank his paws into the ground. It began to shake and the ground split apart. We all looked around at different cracks and heard groans. I crawled over toward the crack, where there was a green glow. I looked down and then a ghost flew out. More ghosts began to pop out and started attacking us. Aella tried aerial attacks, but flew straight threw them. There was a surprised look on her face, and she tried to hit them but one again just phased through them. Azad tried to attack then with chunks of earth, but it just passed right through the ghosts. The same thing happened with Arashi's lightning and Kai's fire. 

"Yeah, normal attacks don't work- do they?! Well you know what? I'll give you a little bit of help. To take down ghosts like these, you need to remind them of who they used to be so they become more solid and you can actually hurt them. Unfortunately, this information won't be useful since there will be too many ghosts for you to handle." He laughed. We used this tactic and were able to start beating them but like he said, there were too many for us to handle- even if we did work together. Suddenly, half-dead souls- like zombies began popping out of the ground. They grabbed Azad and he used created vines to drag them down. Kai created a circle of fire to keep the zombies away and try and fight the ghosts. 

This battle continued for a while, and every time we tried to get to Umbra and attack him ghosts and zombies would protect him and back us away. Umbra truly was the prince of death... I looked over and suddenly Azad came flying over and landed on the ground next to me with a thud.

"Azad! Are you okay?!" 

"I'm... I'm fine. But we can't keep doing this forever Celia." He said, creating a branches that stabbed zombies and sent them back into the broken cracks. 

"You're right, we need a plan." I said, creating knives out of water to hit flying ghosts. Azad then created a shelter out of branches around us. He put his paws together, and held them tight and closed his eyes. He opened his paws, and fireflies flew out.

"Okay, let's make a plan. Any ideas?"

"Well, when we work by ourselves we can't get very far. Maybe if we work together, we can cover each other's back and close to Umbra. We take Umbra out and we stop all the ghosts right?" A light bulb clicked and there was a sparkle in his eyes.

"You're right! Let's do it, I'm sure we could get to him if all five of us work together. I mean Kai is literally a bulldozer, there's no way we're not going to get to him." He said and high-fived me. He broke down the branches and ran to Aella and Arashi to tell them the news. I ran to Kai who had scars on him, but fire lighting up his paws. 

"Kai! Me and Azad created a plan, we all need to work together to fight the ghosts and together we can get to Umbra. If we take him out, we take all the ghosts out."

"Alright." He replied, clearly upset but trying to be nice because it was me. The two of us looked at Arashi, Aella and Azad who nodded at us. All five of us ran in unison, Kai took the lead. Zombies tried to grab Kai, and lightning rained down and sent them back into the ground. Arashi went forward started attacking ghosts. Kai kept running and Aella flew through the gradually growing crowd of zombies and started picking them up and throwing them out of the crowd. Azad created a bridge out of stone on top of the zombies and Kai and I began running toward Umbra. I turned to Azad and smiled and he smiled back, staying behind and fighting any ghosts or zombies who tried to come after us with Arashi and Aella. Without saying anything, Kai and I formed a plan. I took the lead and ran in front of Kai. Umbra sent ghosts after us, but I sent waves of water to push them out of the way. I stopped and created a wave that swooshed toward Umbra. Of course, he sent his undead energy toward the wave- dissolving it. But this is what we wanted, after the wave went down Kai was flying behind it and Kai- with both paws on fire- tackled Umbra to the ground. All of the ghosts and zombies stopped and stared at Umbra. Umbra and Kai were in their own personal battle, with claws flying. Kai was ripping out part of Umbra's black, purple and pink ombre mane that was now flowing. He then hit Umbra in the face. Because Kai's paws were so big, they covered all of Umbra's face and scratched it from chin to forehead. Umbra then pushed Kai off of him and zombies began piling on him to hold him down. 

Once again, the ground split open and there was a green glow that followed. Ghosts and wretched souls climbed the split ground and try to surface into our world. I looked down at them in disgust and moved my paws as they reached for me and tried to pull me down into their eternal place of suffering. Umbra laughed maniacally as he watched me try and escape their grasp. I glared at him evilly as I created a wave of water that sent him flying across the field. While I was distracted, the souls had time to climb up and grab my ankles. They began to drag me down into the glowing green abyss. I immediately began to panic as I struggled to pull myself back up the surface. As my strength dwindled away and I was about to fall, lightning struck the souls and ghosts sending them falling back down into the glowing green void. I quickly climbed up and looked at Arashi. His glowing golden eyes looked at me intensely for a moment before turning away. I found Umbra again and created small pools of water. I transformed them into spears and sent them flying towards Umbra, who dodged them. He sent undead energy towards me, which I dodged multiple times before not moving fast enough and getting hit. My body flew up into the air and spun around. I landed on the ground with a thud, and began shaking. I looked up and Umbra was standing about two feet away from me and smiled darkly. His pink eyes glowed, he lifted a paw and a puddle of undead energy formed in his paw and became increasingly bigger. He raised his paw and in it the energy glowed. The next thing I saw was white light.

After a few seconds, the white light disappeared and what I saw broke my heart. It was like time was moving in slow motion. My body had been burned and it hurt to get up or ever move. I looked up and saw Kai flying over me. He was wincing from the pain, fell to the ground harshly. 

"Kai!" I yelled, trying to get up and crying out in pain.

"No Celia! Stay down, I can handle him." Kai got up shakily and climbed over me and looked at Umbra. He tried to use his powers and failed. He tried again and sent out a blast of fire that of course Umbra was able to dodge. Umbra sent more power out and blasted Kai in the face. It flipped Kai and he landed on the ground. 

"Kai, stop!" I cried and tears began flowing from my eyes, and they were uncontrollable.

"Kai!" Azad screamed, his voice cracking, "...Kai... please... help me..." There was desperation in his voice and tears in his eyes as zombies were piling on and smothering him. Eventually, the zombies overwhelmed him and the paw he reached out toward Kai fell to the ground and sat lifeless. I looked at Aella, who had ghosts holding on to her and bringing her down. Eventually, she wasn't able to move and fell toward the ground like a crashing plane. The zombies took over her body, and they was nothing left to see. Arashi wasn't going down without a fight and sent lightning in every direction, but he was eventually taken down and overwhelmed as well.

Umbra sent another blast of energy at me, knowing he was close to victory and it wouldn't take much for him for him to beat us. It burned like a match against my skin. I tried to stand but couldn't. I sent more spears of water out at him, but he dodged them of course. This time, he looked at him with lust for my blood in his eyes and charged up his powers again. I knew my fate and prepared for the worst.

"Celia!" I heard a blast and then a sound that was similar to a tree snapping in half happened. My eyes shot open to Kai's body being engulfed in Umbra's green energy. He laid on the ground, body with third degree burns and tears in his eyes. I wanted to scream, but my voice stayed silent. I used what energy I had left to crawl over to him. 

"K-kai... why did you.. you... oh Kai..."

"Hey, d-don't cry... what did I tell you, hm? I told you I w-wouldn't let you...die...right? I'll take the fall... but I can't get up anymore Celia... you have to r-run, okay? I can't protect you... anymore..."

"No, no I won't leave you!"

"Celia... it's o-okay... I love y-you..." He said, the last bit of life slipping out of his mouth. I stared at him, waiting for him to wait up but he never did. 

"Kai...? Kai?! Kai please... please wake up... I love you too, just please... wake up." I pleaded but it was no use, he was already dead. I screamed out and let my tears fall onto his blood stained mane. I looked over at Umbra with hate in my heart, "...you..." I'm going to kill him- I have too... for Kai... I tried to get up, but struggled. I looked up at him and that same devilish smile was there just like when we met which felt like forever ago. He charged his energy for the last time and shot it toward me head. I felt the energy hit me, and then saw white light again. But this time, I wasn't taken back into the real world...


	12. Chapter 12

"Where... am I?" I asked, my voice echoing. Wherever I was- it was beautiful. There were these beautiful walls that were a magenta purple color, and the floor was clear. When I looked down, I could see Earth, "Hello? Is anyone there?"

"Celia!" I heard a familiar voice cry out. I started running toward the voice and heard it call out again. When I finally reached the place where the voice was, I saw Azad. He was looking around, and then turned toward me when I arrived, "Celia! Oh my goodness, I'm so happy to see you! I've been here by myself for a while, and I'm... scared."

"Do you know where we are?"

"Honestly... I think we died..." It dawned on me, I did see Azad get consumed. That light I saw... I died...

"Wait, if we're dead... that means the rest of the team is here too."

"They're here? They died too?!"

"Yeah... Aella crashed down to the ground and was consumed, and zombies consumed Arashi and he died too. Kai... he died protecting me... I need to find him."

"Okay, let's look together. I want to find him too." He smiled and we started walking. We walked for about 15 minutes, but still didn't find anything. I began to get worried until I heard a deep voice yelling.

"HELLO?! CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME?!"

"Kai! It's Kai!" I yelled, not giving Azad time to respond and running toward Kai's voice. I kept running with hope in my heart, and then sure enough- he was standing there. His eyes widened and he ran towards me. We hugged and he sniffled. After breaking away I noticed he was crying. I wiped away his tears as we shared a quick kiss. 

"Are you hurt? Are you okay?" He asked weakly. 

"I'm fine. But... Kai, we're dead." His face dropped and he looked at Azad who nodded for confirmation. Kai walked over to Azad and pulled him into a hug.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry I couldn't get to you in time... I'm sorry I let you down..."

"You didn't let me down Kai, I'm just sad we died." Azad said somberly, "Is Aella here? Or Arashi?"

"Yeah, Aellas here. She thought she heard Arashi and went to go find him." And as soon as the words left his mouth, Aella flew in and landed down next to me. 

"Aella! Hi, are you okay?" I asked, excited to see her. 

"I'm fine, and so is Arashi whose on the way."

"Yeah... I'm alright." Arashi said walking up to the group. After Azad and I explained that we were dead, the five of us started walking and looked for somewhere to go or someone to talk to. After a few minutes of walking, we came across 5 doors.

"What do we do?" I asked and everyone looked just as confused as I was, "Someone- anyone- please, what do we do?" I waited but there was no answer. I looked around in frustration when someone spoke.

"Go through." The voice said.

"The doors?" I asked, feeling stupid after the question left my mouth.

"To get back, you must go through."

"Get back where?" Kai asked, "Back to Earth?" And we all looked at the glass floor where Earth could be seen below. Suddenly, a glowing figure appeared. 

"Yes, back to Earth."

"Who are you?" Kai asked, both defensively and confused.

"He's The Spirit Guardian...." I said, somehow knowing the answer without being told. It was like I connected with him right away.

"Correct, Princess Celia. I am The Spirit Guardian. All five of you have died, but Umbra has not. If you wish for this to be the end of your road and stay dead, I will send you on your way. But if not, and you desire to return back to Earth and have a second chance at beating him- you must go through the doors." He said in a calm and serene voice.

"What's through the doors?" Aella asked.

"The worst moment of your life. Events that changed and shaped who you are today. You must go through, face these events and accept what happened. If unable to do so, you will be consumed by these thoughts and events and will be stuck there for an eternity. However, if you are able to accept what happened and move forward- you will come out stronger and be able to return back to Earth- return back to your homes." All five of us sat and began to think. 

"That's a lot to take in guys..." Azad said worriedly, "Do you want to do it... or not...?" 

"I don't see how we have a choice. Our families our down there. Innocent lives are at stake, how could we not go back?" Aella said staring down at Earth.

"We don't know what's in there though... what if we do get get stuck?" Arashi asked, in a tone that almost sounded scared and didn't suit him.

"You won't. We won't, because we have a tool." Everyone looked at Kai, "We have each other. None of us has to go through our door alone. We can all be there for each other so we don't get stuck. That way, we all get to go home. If one of us is going home- all of us are going home." He smiled.

"I agree." I said happily, "Who else?" Azad smiled and nodded and Aella replied with a simple 'I agree'. We all looked at Arashi who seem disturbed almost as if he already knew what was waiting for him on the other side of his door. He looked at all of us worriedly and sighed before agreeing, "Spirit Guardian- we have chosen to go through the doors. We want to go back home." I said confidently, and the figure turned to the doors. The doors began to glow and then a symbol appeared on each door that represented each of our powers. The first door- conveniently enough- was mine. We all walked up and I put my paw on the door and it slightly opened. I looked back at my support team and felt confident. I turned back towards the door and pushed it open. All of us walked through and we landed on a beach. I looked around and the beach seemed familiar, but wrong at the same time. There were bodies, of both humans and lions scattered across the beach. 

"What is this place?" Arashi asked looking around at the dreary sight.

"This... this is my home. But it's my home... from 7 years ago, during the war. This... this is the day my brother Kane died..." I replied, feeling tears starting to form.

"Kane!" A young voice called out, and I looked over. When I did, I saw 12 year old self running toward Kane, who was laying lifeless in the sand. She hugged Kane, and started crying with fear in her eyes realizing this was going to be the last time she'd see him. I began to cry and looked at Kane. Younger Celia looked at me, before fading away. I sat down next to Kane and lifted him up. 

"You didn't deserve to die Kane... you died too young, there are still people who need and love you..." I cried as I looked at his curly hair before laying my head on his shoulder, "I just want my brother back..." I whispered, crying over Kane like I had never cried before. 

"What happened to him?" Arashi asked, looking concerned.

"7 years ago there was a war between my people and a tribe of people who used to live nearby. They ambushed us and almost killed me and my mother. To save us and our kingdom, Kane used his powers to create a tsunami that killed their entire tribe..."

"But at what cost?"

"His life... he lost his life during that tsunami... he died and gave his powers to me, but I didn't want powers- I wanted my brother back."

"Then this is it, this is what you have to deal with baby. He's gone and isn't ever coming back... you... you have to let go..." Kai said, tears heavily falling from his eyes as he stared at his dead best friend.

"But I... I don't want to let go of him..."

"It's not him, it's the fact the he's gone Celia. If you don't, you'll be consumed." Aella said in a more serious tone, that snapped me back to reality. 

"I don't have to lose Kane, I just need to let go of what happened... He's still my brother and I'll always love him... He won't come back... and that's....okay..." As soon as the words came out of my mouth, there was a blinding light and then a glowing figure in the shape of a lion appeared on the water. I didn't know who or what is was, but I felt connected to it and had to see it. I walked out onto the water and me the figure. The glowing lessened and I realized it was Kane. It was Kane's spirit or rather, his soul. It was 14 year old Kane and he looked just like he did 7 years ago. He smiled a warm smile, like he always did and embraced me in a hug. 

"I've missed you kid..." He said, wholeheartedly. 

"I've missed you too, but I don't think you can call me kid when your spirit is 14 and I'm older than you." I laughed and he closed his eyes. He then grew and became more muscular. His mane grew in more, and he was now taller than I was and was probably about 6'3, "Is this... what you would look like if you were still alive...?"

"It is, I looked amazing, right?" He laughed, "I wanted to tell you that I miss you too, and that I'm so so proud of you. You've done such an amazing job- at being a friend, a daughter, a princess, a girlfriend and a sister. I've been watching you since I left, and I've been proud every day since then." He smiled, looking more princely than I had ever seen him. I was crying again and embraced him into a hug, "Mom and dad weren't able to let go and I don't think ever will. But you were able to, and are going to be stronger because of it. I can't wait to see the life you live Celia." We broke away from our hug and Kane walked onto the beach and met Kai. Kai- still crying- couldn't say anything, but smiled, "Hey buddy."

"Kane..." Kai whispered almost inaudibly. 

"I know you miss me, and I miss you too. I'm sorry my death ruined your teenage years... you were just constantly moving and never staying in one place. I'm so sorry for that."

"Don't apologize for dying Kane... I should've dealt with it and let go but I didn't.... I have now though. I'm so happy to see you." He said, and the two boys hugged. Kane then stepped back and looked at the two of us. 

"I have to go now, but just know I'm looking down on you guys and I couldn't be more proud of you both. I want an invite to the wedding by the way." He smiled, before turning into nothing more than a glow again. 

"Of course..." I said, wiping away my tears and smiling as I watched his fade away.

"Celia..." I heard an unfamiliar voice say, and I looked out toward the water. There, a lion stood. He was dark blue and had a mane made of water. His eyes were glowing an ice blue color, and he stared at me.

"Who... are you? How are you able to stand on the water...?" I asked, extremely confused and almost scared. 

"I am Neptune, the first water lion and The Water Deity." He said and everyone's jaw dropped. He gold wristbands and armor shimmered in the moon light as he walked up to me. He was about 7'0 and looked down at me, "I have been watching you, and I'm impressed with you. Even if you haven't learned or mastered every water skill, your kind heart makes you a hero and sets you apart from the previous water lions. I'm going to give you a gift..." He said and I turned toward toward Kai who smiled nervously. Neptune stuck out a claw and touched my forehead. There was a white glow and my eyes turned white. I began floating and surrounded myself in a ball of water, I lifted my paw and the entire ocean moved shifted. I closed my eyes before opening them quickly and sending the water around me flying up into the air and coming down as rain and returning to the ground.

"What... what was that?" I asked, the glow leaving and my eyes returning to their normal cerulean blue color.

"I gave you all of my knowledge. Every skill I know and mastered has now been passed onto you. You have now mastered every skill and have become a water master. That will help you in your fight." He said before bowing. I bowed in return and he then faded away like the others. I turned back to the others who smiled at me- which was something I didn't think Arashi and Aella were capable of. I walked toward Kai, who embraced me and kissed the top of my head.

"My water master." He said, looking down at me with pride. We broke the hug and went through the door. When we did, it disappeared. The next door was Azad's and he looked less than thrilled.

"Are you ready?" I asked, confidently and we walked in. When we did, we were back at Azad's kingdom. There was the sound of a small cub playing and two newborn cubs were sleeping next to him. Azad sighed and walked up to the cub, and picked him up. He hugged the cub, and began crying. He turned back to us, the cub fitting in his paw and then disappearing. 

"Who was that? Do you know him?" Aella asked, confused just like the rest of us. 

"That... was me." Everyone's eyes widened, "I was 3 and this is the day my parents abandon me and my siblings..." I felt a pit of sadness in my stomach and watched as a dark dirt colored male lion walked up and a light yellow female lioness walked up. They kissed the newborn cubs and then walked away. 

"What just happened? Who are they... where are they going? Those aren't your parents, right?" I asked, hoping it wasn't them. 

"You're exactly right. Those are my parents, age 20. They just said goodbye to me and siblings- though I didn't know it was goodbye forever back then. They felt like they were missing out on their lives and weren't ready to be parents or rule a kingdom so they left. They abandoned me and left me to be raised by the staff..." All of us gave Azad a hug, as his tears slowly began to consume him.

"Oh Azad..." A female voice said that didn't come from me or Aella. We all looked up to see Azad's parents, "Azad, we've missed you." His mother said, reaching in to give him a hug but Azad pushed her away.

"No! You didn't miss me and you still don't. If you really missed me you wouldn't have left!" He yelled, and we all backed away.

"Azad, we died... we died a few years after we left you..." His father said somberly. 

"And what? You think this somehow makes what you did okay? That it makes up for it?! It doesn't! You let me grow up thinking my parents didn't care about me or hated me. I hated myself for so long... I thought I wasn't good enough which is why my parents left... You ruined my childhood...." He screamed and my heart felt for him.

"Azad, we're sor-"

"Oh I'm sure you are! You see me all grown up- a king- and doing fine without you. Now you're sorry. But you weren't sorry when you looked your 3 year old son in the eyes and left him forever. Well you know what, I don't need you. Like I said, I'm doing fine without you. I've been AMAZING without you! And I have people like Kai and Celia- and Aella- in my life. People who actually care- my real family. I won't let you haunt me and hurt me anymore." He said confidently and wiping his tears away. His parents disappeared and a brown lion showed up. He was chocolate colored with a dark brown mane, that was green at the bottom. He had emerald green eyes and stared at Azad. Azad stopped crying and looked up surprised. 

"I am Terra, the first Earth lion and The Earth Diety." He said, speaking gently. Azad was too shocked to say anything and stared, "I have a gift for you as well" He touched Azad with his claw and Azad began to glow. He moved a paw toward the ground and a mountain began erupting out of the ground. He moved his other paw and a stone statue of himself grew out of the ground. The glowing then stopped and he looked back at Terra, "I gift you all of my knowledge. You now know and have mastered every Earth skill- you are an Earth master." He replied before disappearing and Azad looked down at himself. He turned to us and smiled and we all ran to give him a hug.

"Azad, you did it. You're an Earth master!" Kai said excitedly. 

"Does this mean all of us will become masters?" Arashi asked as we all walked through the door.

"I guess so, but that's if we're not consumed." I said and stared at the third door as the second one disappeared. It had a tornado on it and Aella- without hesitation- pushed the door open and was ready for a fight, though she wasn't going to get one. What she saw, pushed her over the edge and broke her heart... again.


	13. Chapter 12- Part 2

Aella was frozen in place, and was staring at the ground where her mother way laying. An eleven year old Aella was griping onto her mother. There were winged jaguars and lions flying through the air and fighting. Some of them were falling through the air and crashing into the ground. Aella was holding onto a winged lion that was grey and a turquoise tuft of hair. There was blood all over her body and she was laying there like a lifeless doll. 

"Aella..." I said, not knowing what else to say to her.

"I was too late..."

"What?"

"I was too late. I was flying through the air and I looked over at my mother... she was fighting and was thrown to the ground. I flew after her, but she hit the ground before I could get to her... I was too late... She's dead and it's my fault..." She walked over to her younger self and her mother.

"Mom? Mom?! Please... please wake up... I can't live here without you... WAKE UP! SOMEBODY HELP! SOMEBODY... anybody..." Younger Aella cried. She looked up at Aella and then faded away. Aella sat down next to her mom and buried her face in her neck. She cried and then let screamed in pain.

"Come back... just please come back..." She cried. 

"Aella, I think you need to let go of what happened..." Kai said gently, trying not to upset her. 

"No! How can I... when it's my fault?" She said, looking up at us with tears in her eyes- a sight I never thought I'd see. 

"It's not your fault though... your mom was killed by the jaguar king. She... she was dead before she hit the ground... it's not your fault." I said and she looked up. There were storm clouds and the wind was blowing on the battle field, causing her white tuft of her to sway back and forth.

"It's not my fault...? It's... it's not your fault. You're right... it's not fault..." She said a smile almost forming on her face before shifting back into a frown, "But what if... what if it is my fault?" She said, reverting back to her train of thought. Azad walked up to Aella and put his paws on her shoulders.

"Aella- listen to me. I know you think it's you fault, and that its a hard fact to overcome. You came with me through my door and you heard what I said: I hated myself because I thought I wasn't good enough which is why my parents left. But I was wrong." Aella looked up at him, and Azad wiped her tears away, "I was completely wrong. My parents didn't leave because of me, it wasn't my fault. They left because they were crummy parents who had children earlier than they were ready to. I really did think it was my fault, but when I let go of what happened and accepted the fact that it wasn't my fault- there was a HUGE weight lifted off of my shoulders." Azad looked down and sighed before looking back up at Aella, "Look, ever since that day- you've been different. You used to be so happy, laughing all the time, running around happy, I still remember when you thought about going to the academy and learning magic." He laughed, " But when your mom died... you became a different person. You stopped laughing, you stopped being happy and you gave up on your dreams. You threw yourself into your work and the last thing you had of your mom- the royal guard. You became the best fighter and the best ruler The Empire of Magic could have ever asked for... but you were never happy and still aren't. It's because you haven't let go of what happened to your mom. You've been going through life unhappy and you aren't truly living. Aella, you have to let go. You'll never be happy if you don't." He said, smiling weakly. He looked at her, hoping his words got to her and seemed as though they did. She shut her eyes tight and seemed like she was going through an internal struggle before finally calming down and wiping her tears away. 

"It's not my fault." She said, opening her eyes that were glowing white. They began to glow brighter and brighter until the entire place was engulfed in light. We all shut out eyes, and then eventually the glow went away. When I opened my eyes, the battle field was gone. The room was entirely black, and when I looked back at Aella, her eyes were still glowing white. She was standing up with her wings out. They were white and had blue feathers. There was a claw on her forehead from another white lion. He was probably 7'3 or 7'4 and had a light brown hair mane. He had turquoise feathers coming off of his legs and head, and wings with brown and white feathers like an owl. He had gold bands on his legs just like Neptune. There were silver clamps on his wings that replaced some of the feathers near the tips of his wings. Suddenly Aella flew into the air and wind gusts flew from her body and sent us flying through the room. She then landed back on the ground. 

"I am Aries, the first air lion and The Air Deity. You have impressed me Aella, and I am not easily impressed. You are the strongest air warrior I've ever seen. You had the potential to be great, and now you can be. I've given my knowledge to you, and you have now mastered every air skill- you are an air master." The tall lion said.

"Aella looked at us and smiled, before opening her wings. 

"Your wings are going to be different when you go back." He said, starting to fade.

"Why?... how?" She asked, looking at her wings.

"One of you abilities is super sonic flight. I know you've broken the sound barrier before, and your wings felt weak- and you couldn't fly for a few days. That's because your wings aren't made to fly that fast. With supersonic flight, you'll be able to fly five or six times faster than that. If you go that fast with your normal wings- they're going to be ripped off." He said in all seriousness, and the rest of us looked shocked, "They're will be metal clamps on your wings to keep them from ripping off." 

"Oh... thank you." Aella said, giving Aries a half smile as he fully faded. The five of us walking through the door and came out to the magenta and purple room. Aella's door disappeared and the next door had a glowing lightning bolt. Arashi sighed and began growling.

"Do you know what's on the other side?" I asked curiously.

"Yes, and I don't want to go through this again. I swear, I'll kill them again." He said busting through the door. All of us looked at each other concerned.

"He wouldn't kill anyone... right?" Azad asked worriedly.

"Have you met the guy?" Kai replied, walking through the door. The rest of us followed, and entered into a dark place. At first I thought it was a room, but it was actually a cave. We walked slowly as Arashi angrily charged ahead. Before we could say anything or see anything, a loud deranged scream could be heard. We walked forward and saw 3 lions: a lioness who was brown and had light brown streaks on her back, a grey male lion who had a long stringy mane, and a small cub who looked like Arashi and I'm guessing was Arashi. 

"You are worthless! Do you remember that?!" The male lion barked. We walked into the cave further and he had his claws holding the small cubs head into the ground. The small cub was crying, and struggling to get up.

"Yes! Y-yes I understand..." He whimpered. The male cub- who I'm guessing was the cub's father- lifted his paw and let the cub go.

"Arashi... is that... you?" I asked with a sadness in his voice.

"It is... I was nine when that happened. And today is the day that I, younger- nine year old- me, killed my parents."

"You killed your parents?!" I asked concerned, unable to even imagine doing something of the sort to my parents.

"Yes. Today is also the day I got my powers." He said, still staring at his younger self, "Just watch it play out." All of us stared at him horrified, but watching nonetheless. 

"Mom, please..." The small cub cried, shaking in front of his mother.

"Please WHAT?" The male lion said, turning around and the small cub crouched in fear. 

"N-nothing..." 

"Something! SPEAK UP BOY! USE THAT WORTHLESS DISGUSTING VOICE!" The small cub covered his eyes in fear and said nothing, only serving to further enrage the male lion. He then proceeded to slab the boy in the face so hard that he flew out of the cave and landed on the ground outside. He had blood and scrapes all over his body. The mother and father walked out and of course, the father started yelling though it seemed like young Arashi wasn't listening. He lifted himself off of the ground, barely standing and looked down at his paws. 

"YOU ARE NOTHING, AND YOU'LL ALWAYS BE NOTHING!"

"No..." Young Arashi whispered.

"WHAT?!"

"I said, NO!" He screamed and there was a flicker of electricity by his paws, "I'm not nothing! I'm not worthless, I mean something to someone. I know that I'm not worthless. If any of us is worthless- it's you!" 

"You're going to get BEAT for that, boy!" His father yelled, and storm clouds began billowing above Arashi and thunder followed. 

"No... I don't think you will." Lightning struck his body and Arashi looked down at his paws. Instead of falling over or dying, Arashi's head lifted up and his light hazel eyes had turned a glowing gold as they stared at his father.

"Oh god... no... Arashi, Arashi listen..." His father said with fear in his voice.

"Oh no, I'm not going to listen. The time for that is over..." 

"Arashi please, listen to your father." His mother said, cowering in fear.

"Yes, c'mon son... just listen..."

"No! I am NOT your son! You gave that UP when you abused me for almost a DECADE!" He yelled, lightning striking down his father, "I was tortured by you..." He said somberly, raising his paw up and creating a constant stream of lightning that went to his father. He began screaming and fell to the ground. His mother looked at him with fear in her eyes, and Arashi's eyes with filled with blood lust and rage. He then moved the lightning toward his mother whose body became limp and fell. 

"Arashi..." His father barely managed to get out, as he was stuck on the ground and smoke was coming off of his body. Arashi walked over to him and looked in his eyes.

"I told you I was going to kill you one day... do you remember that? I do, because you beat me for it. The scar on my face- you gave it to met when I told you that..." He said, bringing his claws out and slowly running them across his father's face before smacking him, leaving claw marks and blood running across his face. His father yelped before looking back at his son with regret in his eyes. He knew he had messed up, and that in his current electrocuted state- there was nothing he could do to stop Arashi or even make up with him. He knew his fate- that he would die at the hands of his son, because of how poorly he had treated him, "Today is the day that you're going to die. I'll make sure you never hurt me again..." He said darkly before a tuft of curly dark grey hair fell into his face and he put his paw on his chest, where a stream of lightning traveled from the sky to Arashi's paw and fried his father's heart.

Unfortunately, his mother shared the same fate and died quickly. Arashi then began walking away and faded. Arashi then hung his head angrily. The bodies faded, and then the spirits of his parents showed up.

"I remember that day Arashi, it was tragic." His father said walking up to Arashi, who lifted his head angrily. 

"Don't talk to me, I'm done with you." He replied darkly. 

"Oh? Are you? Seems to me like you're not, otherwise- why would be here?" His father said, and Arashi growled angrily. 

"No, NO! I am done with you! YOU RUINED MY CHILDHOOD. YOU TORTURED ME, AND ABUSED ME! YOU MADE ME MISERABLE! I DON'T EVEN THINK I'M CAPABLE OF FEELING ANYTHING OTHER THAN ANGER AND PAIN, I DON'T WANT A FAMILY BECAUSE OF YOU! I HATE YOU!" He screamed.

"Oh come on Arashi, listen to your fath-"

"SHUT UP!" He said, turning to his mother, "YOU ARE JUST AS GUILTY AS HIM! YOU NEVER HIT ME, BUT YOU JUST SAT THERE AND WATCHED. THERE WERE SO MANY TIMES I ASKED YOU- BEGGED YOU- TO TAKE ME AWAY FROM HIM. BUT YOU NEVER DID... YOU JUST KEPT TELLING ME THAT HE WAS IN CHARGE AND THE HEAD OF OUR FAMILY SO I NEEDED TO STAY!" He said, tears slowly starting to form in his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away, "YOU KNOW WHAT, I DON'T NEED THIS. I DON'T NEED YOU! I AM DONE LETTING YOU BE THE CONSTANT WEIGHT ON MY SHOULDERS, I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU BOTHER ME ANYMORE... you or him. I killed you because I wanted to get away, and I did. You're dead and you need to stay dead. I live every day like you're still here, like I'm running from you. I need to stop letting you affect me, because it's affecting people I could care about, and... and my team... I'm done with you both. Goodbye." Suddenly a tall lion about 7'8 and a light yellow color appeared. He had a golden mane, like a pool of honey and storm grey eyes. As he began to speak, the spirits of Arashi's parents solemnly faded away. 

"I am Jupiter, the first storm lion and The Storm Deity. What you went through... it's going to take time to move past it. Don't push these people away and let people get close to you, you'll become better because of it. You have now mastered every skill and become a storm master." He replied, putting his claw on Arashi's forehead before disappearing. Arashi flew up, and was struck by lightning, causing his eyes to glow white. He then returned to the ground, and his eyes returned to normal. 

"Arashi..."

"I don't wanna talk about it, let's just go." He said, walking out of the door. All of us walked out of the door without saying a word. Kai let out a sigh, as Arashi's door disappeared and the fire on the last door started glowing. I put my paw on his shoulder and he smiled weakly. 

"You're the last one buddy, you've got this!" Azad said with enthusiasm. Arashi stood at the back, but was with us regardless. Then, the five of us walked through the door. 

The first thing I felt was heat, and then heard distressed yelling. I opened my eyes and realized we were on a volcano. Everyone kind of looked around, and then I saw it- the moment I knew would be here but was hoping wouldn't be. A five year old Kai was leaning over the volcano and crying. We all walked over to the volcano and peered inside to see Kai's mother holding onto his father, who was barely gripping onto Kai. 

"Ikaika, listen to me. It's going to be fine, everything will be fine. But you have to let us go, okay?" His father said calmly.

"No! I won't let you go, I need you guys... I love you guys..." He said, struggling to hold on. He tried to lift them up, but it only caused him to slip even more.

"Look at me..." His mother said, "We love you so much, but we're all going to die if you don't let go. You need to live, live for us baby." She said smiling.

"I can't lose you guys, I won't let go." Kai cried, his dad's paw beginning to slip.

"Ikaika, do you know why we brought you up here?" His mother asked and younger Kai should his head while Kai's head hung in shame, " We were bringing you up here... because I'm pregnant." Younger Kai's face fell as his eyes began to widen, "You were going to be an older brother. We didn't know the gender... but I just had a feeling that it was going to be a boy... so we were going to name him Drake." She said somberly, her husband's paw about to lose its grip and fall. Kai began screaming and trying to pull them up, but couldn't. 

"We love you Ikaika..." Kai said in unison with his parents as he tightly shut his eyes, and his dad's grip finally gave out and his parents fell into the boiling volcano below. Young Kai looked down at the volcano and watched the last part of his father disappear into the volcano and be disintegrated. Kai backed away and let more tears flow down his tear stained cheeks. He then set himself on fire, his eyes glowing white. He screamed out in anger and the volcano erupted behind him. 

"Kai.. is this what happened to your parents...?" I asked, and he nodded, "I knew they passed away, but I never knew they passed away like this..." I said, beginning to cry. I looked back and even Aella had tears in her eyes, I guess from knowing what it's like to lose a parent. 

"I still remember that day like it was yesterday... My parents didn't scream or even cry, because they didn't want me to be worried. They knew they were going to fall to their deaths and burn alive but they didn't want ME to be scared... I still remember watched the lava consume my mother, almost like she wasn't alive or wasn't real. And it's all my fault... they slipped in and had I been stronger I could've pulled them to safety." He said, his tears falling down his cheeks. 

"It's not your fault Kai." Azad was about to say something, but Aella put her paw on his shoulder and shook her head as if to say, 'leave them alone, Celia can handle this', "You were five- no five year old would have been able to lift two grown lions out of a volcano. And you have to know that they wouldn't want you to think that it's your fault- because it's not. They wanted you to live, they wouldn't want you to walk around with as much guilt about it as you do... right?" Kai nodded his head slowly, and then gently gave me a hug. It was a gentle that I didn't know a lion Kai's size was capable of. 

"It's not my fault?" 

"No, no where near your fault. You have to let go, okay?"

"Okay..." He said, and sighed. When he did, I could almost feel the weight leave. Kai broke the hug and smiled at me. I wiped his tears away and then a voice called out to Kai. When Kai turned around, there was a dark brown lion with a red mane standing behind him. His eyes were silver like Kai's and he had a burn over his right eye. I guess silver eyes is a fire thing. 

"Kai, I know you may think you can't fully let go- but I know you will. You were able to start letting go before because you had people like Kane and Azad to get you through it. Now you have all of them." The lion said, gesturing to us, "Surround yourself with people you love and trust because they fuel you and give you strength. I am Kronos, the first fire lion and The Fire Deity. I am giving my knowledge to you. You have now mastered every skill and become a fire master." Kronos did the same thing to Kai that The Deities did to all of us, he granted him power by putting his claw on his forehead. Kai's eyes turned white and he flew into the air and bursts into a ball of flames. It was bright, but Kai quickly returned to the ground and his eyes returned to normal, "You have previous fire lions in your blood, make them proud- make us proud." He said before fading like the rest of them. Kai turned around and hugged me. Azad then joined in on the hug and the two of us laughed. We walked through the door, and when all of us were out- the door disappeared. Then the glowing light that was The Spirit Guardian appeared. 

"All of you have successfully passed the test and unlocked your full potential."

"Full potential?" Kai asked. 

"Yes, your full potential is the best you can be in terms of your powers. Are you guys ready to go back?" The five of us all looked at each other with confidence and smiled before nodding. 

"We're ready." I stated. Then, The Spirit Guardian's glow because brighter and brighter until everything was white.


	14. Chapter 12- Part 3

Everything was still white, but I felt the wind blowing over me and knew I was back in the real world. My body- once dead before- was now alive and lifted off the ground. My eyes were glowing white but I could still see out of them. The rest of our bodies began to do the same thing as mine, and burst into a ball of white light. Umbra, who had begun walking away, turned around and looked at us. Fear grew in his eyes as his mane blew in the wind. The first to emerge and land on the ground was Aella. She had a new form, and it was beautiful. She spread her wings which now had gold plating on the front. It was engraved like the rest of her armor which curled around her body. The hair-like part of her helmet was a light blue, and there were wings on the side. Arashi was next and had samurai-like armor on, that was a shiny red color. He had half a helmet with a giant ruby gem on the top, that covered the top part of his mane and a long, curly ponytail to keep his mane out of his face. Azad had silver and turquoise armor, with light pink flowers engraved into the gauntlets and a short cape with more flowers on it. His mane flowed to the sides and was out of his face. l had a dark blue and cyan robe on, with gauntlets to match. My gauntlets had blue lapis lazuli on the them, as well as my metal headband. When I looked over at Kai, he had just landed on the ground and his form came into view. I began to blush and was taken back by his form. He had grown to 8'1 and was was wearing copper and gold armor. He had shoulder armor that was engraved and at least 2 feet long, and a massive helmet with spikes. It was red and had gold accents, with a giant ruby gem in the front. He also had shoulder armor underneath his larger shoulder armor, that had rubies on them as well. Giant straps of leather pulled his armor together, and a semi-transparent white cape with orange suns on the bottom. His hair curled around his helmet, and was super beautiful. He looked down at me and smiled handsomely. 

"Let's work together." Kai said to the rest of us and we all nodded in agreement. Aella's wings were spread, and her head was low as she slowly stalked Umbra who we were now surrounding.

"Oh c'mon, let's... let's talk about this." Umbra said trying to stop what he knew was his inevitable fate.

"I don't know..." Kai said, looking at me before setting himself on fire and looking back at Umbra, "I kind of want to try out these knew powers. What do you think guys?" 

"I do too." Arashi said bluntly, throwing a lightning bolt at Umbra, who began shaking.

"Alright, then attack AS ONE!" Kai replied, charging at Umbra. Aella stopped moving and looked up, before taking off and soaring into the air sounding like a jet. Kai began beating onto Umbra, who was too scared to fight back as he stared fire and death in the face. My eyes began glowing white as I created a tsunami of water that swallowed Umbra whole. Umbra struggled, but managed to make it to the surface. He coughed violently and tried to swim, but was dragged under again. Arashi didn't help his case, as flashes of lightning struck the wave of water. I made the water disappear, and Umbra fought to breathe. Azad stepped up and smiled darkly, a look I've never seen on him before. The ground began to shake, and I held onto Kai to try and not fall. The ground where the ghosts were previously coming out sealed up, and a mountain sprang up beneath Umbra who flew up into the air. Azad then made the mountain disappear and Aella dragged him down, breaking the sound barrier as they hit the ground. Aella walked off of her, tucking her wings down. Umbra, tried to stand and shook violently as he spit out blood and teeth. 

Arashi created a lightning storm with different strands of lightning, and it fried Umbra to a crisp. Kai walked up to Umbra, his cape blowing in the wind. He grabbed Umbra by his mane, ripping some fur out. There was blood lust in Kai's eyes. He looked at Azad and told him to 'protect them', and I could see he wasn't all there. Azad gathered me, Arashi, Aella and himself together. 

"P-please... I'm s-sorry...." Umbra begged, blood just gushing out of his mouth. He held up his mechanical arm and paw, which Kai grabbed and melted away. Umbra was too beat up to scream and looked at his arm, and then back at Kai fearfully. 

"TOO LATE! You hurt the most important thing in my life... it's too late for you now..." Kai said, his body glowing a bright red color, before turning orange, then yellow almost as if he was going to detonate. Azad created a dome of stone around the four of us and a few seconds later there was a loud explosion that chipped away at the outer layers of stone. I thought it would bust through the stone, but Azad held it together. After the explosion and fire had gone away Azad broke the barrier down. When he did, Kai was standing there staring out a the city. There was burned dirt and ruble surrounding him, and any building in a 2 block radius had been leveled and brought to the ground. We all walked out to Kai, who looked down at me contently. 

"He won't ever hurt anyone ever again." 

"Did you... blow up?" Azad asked, smiling.

"Yeah, it's a new skill I have. I figured it out when I grabbed him."

"How come you're not dead too?"

"I guess because it was a bunch of built up energy and fire blowing up rather than my body itself."

"Well, where do we go from here?" Aella asked. The smoky clouds drifted away and light began to shine though on everyone's armor and gear. 

"I think we continue on with our lives- new lives though." I said, my blue eyes shining in the light, "We've become stronger and better since we were here the first time. I think it's time to use what we learned and apply it into our lives. Arashi, you're not letting what your parents did and what you did to them haunt you. Now you can start to be happy. Jupiter said to surround yourself with people you know and trust, right? And you said you decided not to have a family because of your parents. Why don't you go meet up with Haru? He's like your family, right? Getting married or having kids may be a big jump, but Haru is a good place to start... what do you think?"

"Fine... that's not such a ...bad... idea." Arashi said, his curly dark grey ponytail with a gold streak blowing in the wind. 

"Aella, you learned that your mom loves you and doesn't blame you- that her death wasn't your fault. You let everything go, and stopped trying to reach your dreams when your mother died. I know it's going to be difficult to try and become that person again, but why don't you start by doing things that make you happy- not that you have to do." Aella said and stared at the sunset and smiled. 

"I'd like that..." She said softly, not moving from her position.

"Azad, you're the best king your citizens could've asked for. And you did that without your parent's help. You let all that pain and anger go, and now can be free to do anything and everything you want. You've moved past it and now can become better." I smiled and he came over to hug me. 

"How do you know exactly what to say Celia?" He asked in a warm tone.

"Because she's perfect." Kai replied walking up to us, and Azad smiled and backed away, "Celia, we've been through so much. Not just on this trip, but in our lives. Our lives have been intertwined since the beginning of time. There's not a moment in my life where I can remember you not being in it. I've told you before that I want to marry you- that I want you to be my wife. I meant it then, and I mean it now. I want to spend the rest of my life with you because you make me feel like no other person does. But instead of just saying it..." He grabbed my paw and knelt down. Even kneeling down, he was still taller than me, "...I'm going to show you, because actions speak louder than words. Celia, will you marry me?" I began crying, but they were tears of joy and not tears of pain. I smiled at him, before saying yes. He picked me up and the two of us laughed. 

"You're all invited." I said, wiping my tears away, "Even you, Arashi." I said, looking up and smiling at him. He looked away but blushed a little.

"Fine... I'll... I'll be there." He replied. I hugged him, and though he looked uncomfortable and confused at first, he took the hug and put a paw on my back. It wasn't much of a hug, but I knew it was the most I'd get from him.


	15. Chapter 13

6 months have passed since the final battle. Kai has been living at the castle, and the two of us haven't seen the rest of the ground since the fight. 

I walked through the city and saw the citizens of The Water Kingdom hanging up strings of white and pink cherry blossoms, and waving at me. I smiled and continued walking back to the kingdom. When I returned, two maids greeted me with towels draped over their arms.

"Hello Princess Celia! Your bath water has been prepared." 

"Thank you Aloe, and you too Sage." I replied as they took me to the royal bathing room. The room was black and had gold accents. The bath was full of bubbles and rose petals. I slowly walked up to the bath and stared at it happily. I'm going to marry the guy I love... this is... amazing. 

"You look beautiful." I heard a deep voice say and quickly turned around. Kai was in the doorway and smiled. I walked over to him and gave him a hug.

"You're not supposed to say that until I have my wedding outfit on." I laughed.

"But you look beautiful all the time baby." I smiled before trying to push him away.

"You have to goooo, I have to take a bath and get ready- and so do you. We don't wanna be late for the wedding and coronation." I said pouting and staring up at him. He sighed before turning around and walking out. I walked over to the bath and stepped in, letting my body soak for 20 minutes. Afterwards, I got out and my ladies-in-waiting helped me freshen up. After a few minutes they left, and my mother walked in to help me get dressed. 

In The Water Kingdom, brides are supposed to wear silver gauntlets, a silver necklace and a blue paint under their eyes. The blue paint is meant to show the groom that his bride is one with the ocean, since the ocean is very important to our culture. 

"I have something for you." She said smiling, "I know I haven't always been the mother you wanted, but I want you to know I care." She put a box down in front of me on the vanity. I opened the box and there was a glimmering white cape in it connected by a beautiful silver chain. 

"Mom..."

"Don't read too much into it, okay? I wore this on my wedding day and I want you to wear it on yours." I hugged her, crying. There was a knock at the door which my mother opened. I was surprised to see my father, who was also carrying a box. He handed it to me before giving me a quick hug. I opened it and there was a silver tiara and earrings that matched my gauntlets and necklace.

"Dad, where did you get this... when did you have time to get this?"

"I've had this and kept this safe for 19 years- since you were born. When me and your mother decided to have children, I had 4 items made. Two if I had a son and he got married, and two if I had a daughter and she got married. When you were born I promised myself I would give this to you when you got married." He wasn't usually this open about... well, anything, "The gift for if my son ever got married, I was going to give it to Kane... but I can't now. So I'm going to give it Kai." 

"Kai? You would do that?" 

"I would. I know how much he means to you, and starting today he'll be part of the family. He's... my son now." He said and I hugged him. My dad, now full of emotions and feelings, left to go get ready himself. My mother helped me get all of my things on, before leaving to freshen up. I sat by myself and looked in the mirror. Wow I... I look really pretty. I look beautiful. I wonder what Kai will think. I wonder what Kai looks like with all of his groom attire on. I'm so nervous for the wedding and the coronation. I'm going to become a queen today! That's... a lot to take in-

"Celia!" I heard my name being shouted in the same deep voice as before, with a knock at the door. 

"Kai?"

"Yeah, can I come in? Your mom told me you were almost ready. I wanna see you."

"You can't come in." I said walking to the door, "It's bad luck to see a bride before the wedding! We'll have bad luck!" 

"Ah, no way. We wouldn't have bad luck. There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do to try and fix our marriage. And there's nothing you could do to make me stop loving you." 

"Seems like you're the one who always knows what to say." I laughed, "But seriously, you can't come in. You'll see me soon though, the wedding will start as soon as my parents are ready which will probably be in a few minutes. Just go back to your room, and I'll see you soon baby. Promise." I said smiling, even though I knew he couldn't see it.

"Alright, but only because I love you. I'll see you soon, Queen Celia." He said walking away. I went back to the mirror and put the blue paint on. There were 3 blue dots under each eye, and I was so excited. This was something I thought I'd never see. I smiled and took a few deep breaths. Suddenly there was another knock at the door. I thought it was Kai, but it was someone I didn't expect. 

"Princess Celia, the wedding is about to begin. The king and queen are ready for you now." One of my ladies-in-waiting said. I opened the door and smiled at her, "You look beautiful princess, Kai's going to love you."

"Thank you." I said as she led me to a hallway that led to the beach.

"Citizens of The Water Kingdom, you have gathered here today for a very special ceremony. Today my daughter, Princess Celia, will get married. Together, her and her husband will take over my wife and I's role as the king and queen of this kingdom. Let today be a day of respect and celebration. Remember this day in our kingdom's history." My father said, stepping aside. A priest walked up to the alter with white robes on, and a royal guard stood about 20ft from the alter. 

My parents bowed, as Kai began walking to the alter and passed through the row of guards. He stood at the cherry blossom alter with the priest. My parents looked at me and smiled. 

"Guards, present!" The guard said, and the row of guards put their spears together formed an arch and walkway to the alter. I walked out to my father and held his arm. Together we walked to the alter, and Kai's jaw dropped when he saw me. He stood up straight and smiled confidently. When we reached the alter, my dad let me go and returned to his seat. The priest was practically gushing, and began speaking though I didn't hear much of it. The two of us got lost in each others eyes and it seemed as if time stood still. He smiled, and so did I. He wore the typical groom attire and I held back tears. He had silver gauntlets and a silver necklace that was similar to mine, but was a bit smaller. There was blue paint going from his nose to his forehead. He had on another silver neck, this one not part of the typical groom attire. I'm guessing that necklace was what my father was going to give Kane on his wedding day. After our short moment that seemed to last forever ended, I was finally able to hear the priest again. 

"Present the rings." He said and a butler walked over carrying a pillow. On it were two rings, one made out of sunstone that was a nice peachy color and one made of moonstone that was a light blue and white. Kai's ring was much bigger than mine, but they were both beautiful. I grabbed his ring and slipped it on his left paw and he did the same for me, "Do you, Princess Celia, take Kai to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do." 

"And do you, Kai, take Princess Celia to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do!" He said excitedly. 

"Then I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now-" Before he could finish, Kai and I kissed and the entire kingdom cheered. Afterwards was the coronation which felt like a blur. I hardly remember it, but what I do remember was the MASSIVE party after. We went to the balcony of the castle where the coronation took place. When it was over, we had silver crowns and were waving at our subjects down below. 

"Do you think Azad is here?"

"Of course, he's been here for a while. He's probably eating with Aella."

"What about Arashi?" 

"I don't know. He said he'd be here and I don't think he'd go back on his word, but this isn't his type of thing." We walked down to the city and met everyone. Several kids looked at Kai in shock at his size. 

"Hey lovebirds! Congratulations, the ceremony was beautiful!" Azad said walking with a samosa. He quickly shoved it into his mouth before hugging the of us. He was wearing a green and gold robe with gold accessories. Aella was with him and was wearing a light blue dress. She smiled at me, with a genuine smile. That's so good to see, she used to use fake smiles but this one is genuine. She's taken my advice, she's doing things that make her happy.

"Aw, thanks Azad. I really appreciate the two of you coming today!" The four of us walked over to the buffet table and grabbed some cake. Kai and I's wedding cake had six tiers, each with some version of fire or water decorations, and there was a red and blue lion at the top for wedding cake toppers.

"Is Arashi here?" Azad asked, smiling happily as he dug into his cake.

"I'm not sure, neither of us have seen him." Kai replied. We talked for a while and said hello to people since we were all royals. I even pointed out Captain Mizu to Kai who I thought was going to throw him into the ocean and declared that first thing tomorrow morning he was going to take away his captain rank and kick him out of the royal guard. Although I still think he should be banned and never be able to return. After what seemed like forever, we found him. Arashi walked over to us, wearing traditional Japanese robes. They were green and brought out the gold in his mane. All of us cheered and Azad and I ran over to him, which he didn't appreciated but took nonetheless. 

With the group now together the fun could begin. We all ate and took pictures. Arashi hated the idea of taking pictures with us, but I think I actually saw him smile in one of them. Kai and Azad took goofy pictures and you can catch Kai throwing sand at him in some of the pictures. Kai and I took pictures separately, that would get hung in the kingdom. The sun was now setting, and Kai and I danced on the beach. I looked over at my parents dancing, Azad dancing with Aella who eventually started dancing with his butler- Flora- who he'd brought along, and some other members of the kingdom were dancing at well. They had hung up lights around the kingdom adding a beautiful lighting affect that lit up the streets and the beach where we were dancing. A slow song came on, and Kai looked at me with a sparkle in his eyes. He invited me to dance and I agreed. We began swaying and stared out at the ocean as I laid my head on his chest. The waves moved calmly as the sun hit the horizon. 

"You know, I've been waiting for this moment for a long time." He said softly.

"Really?"

"Yes, I always knew you would be my wife one day. I didn't know our wedding would be this beautiful though." He smiled, "Your parents worked hard on this wedding and they did a great job." We continued swaying for a few minutes before Azad came over with Aella and Arashi. 

"Hey you two, it's time for gifts."

"Gifts?" I asked looking confused, though Kai smiled seeming to have some knowledge over this.

"I'll go first." Arashi said pulling a storm cloud out of a pocket of his robe, "Open it."

"The cloud?" I asked looking down at the cloud that had small sparks of electricity flying off of it.

"Yes, the cloud is the wrapping." I didn't know he could do that, that's super cool. I pushed parts off the cloud around and opened it. In it were two Japanese robes, one blue and one red. The red one was much bigger than the blue one and had silver accents with a gold dragon on the back. The blue one was mine and had silver flowers on it. 

"Oh Arashi, they're beautiful!" I gushed and grabbed mine, staring at it excitedly. 

"Yeah, thanks man. I really appreciate it." Kai smiled giving Arashi a hug, who actually hugged Kai back this time. 

"My gift goes with Kai, and I can't give it to you until later." Aella said and I looked at Kai.

"You have a gift for us?" I laughed.

"Not for us, for you." Kai pulled me into a hug, as Kai walked over. 

"I wanted to make my gift early, but it would've been a bit difficult to bring over to Brazil. I figured you'd probably want to see it being made anyway." Azad said, his eyes turning white. A circle formed in the ground before lifting up and turning into marble. After a few seconds, it had turned into the base for a statue. A giant pillar of pearly white marble burst out of the center of the base and cracked before starting to mold into a lion. I stared at it unsure of who it was before gasping. Azad had finished the statue and smiled, proud of his work. He had made a statue of Kane. I put my paw on it gently as tears began forming in my eyes, as my lips trembled as I tried to speak. I hugged Azad who laughed.

"Thank you... thank you so much Azad." I said, who happily hugged me back.

"You're welcome. It was the best idea I could come up with." He smiled. My parents walked over, hearing the noise from the statue being made. 

"It's beautiful... it's Kane." My mother said crying. My father was speechless and just stared a the stature in awe, "King Azad... did you make this?"

"I did, I made it for you daughter and son-in-law. It's a wedding gift not only for them, but for their kingdom." My mother hugged Azad, who was surprised but returned the hug. 

"Now it's time for my present." Kai smiled as he turned to me, "You're going to love this." He lifted his paws and created a ball of fire. It became a bigger and brighter before he finally sent it into the night sky. It exploded throughout the sky and turned into fireworks. The entire kingdom turned to the sky and stared in amazement. It was beautiful, all the purples and reds. The blues and green were the most beautiful, and I turned to Kai crying.

"Don't cry, this is meant to be a happy moment." He laughed wiping my tears away. 

"You better hold onto him." My mother whispered to me and smiled as she walked back over to my father. Kai looked over at Aella and nodded, who nodded back before putting her paw out and creating a cloud under us. The cloud sent us up past the trees until we were above the clouds. I looked down and was able to see the fireworks, their beauty able to be seen for miles. 

"How did you do that? I didn't know you could make fireworks." 

"It's a new skill I learned. It's part of a set of combustion skills I have. I only learned how to do it a few weeks ago and thought it would be perfect for the wedding. " 

"How are we able to stand on these clouds? Shouldn't we fall through?" 

"Yes, but Aella made them special. It's part of a new skill she learned too. It's called Cloud Mastery, it allows any animal besides winged lions and jaguars to sit and walk on clouds. She made it so that we could be alone and do whatever we waned up here." He said, turning me around to see the bright moon in front of us. It was so big from up here, "Do you wanna dance." He asked as he held out a paw. The two of us danced in the moon light so a few minutes before sharing a kiss, "Can I tell you something?"

"You know you can Kai." I laid my head on his shoulder.

"The truth is, the fireworks weren't my gift to you. Something else is."

"What is it?" I asked lifting my head and looking up at him.

"Kane, you can come out now." He said and a bright glow appeared in front of us. I began walking forward to the light which then turned into Kane.

"Kane?! What are you doing here?" I asked excitedly. 

"Well, Kai talked to The Spirit Guardian who gave me the date for your wedding. I told you I wanted an invitation, and there was no way I was going to miss my baby sister's wedding." The two of us hugged and he wiped my tears away, "No more crying, today is your wedding day. It's supposed to be the happiest day of your life!" 

"It is Kane, it is. I'm just really happy to see you." I smiled, before running over to Kai and giving him a hug, "Thank you... thank you so much for this." I smiled.

"Anything for my princess." He smiled. The three of spent the night talking, finally reunited again. At the end of the night, Kane returned to The Spirit Realm after telling us he'd be back when we had kids. Kai and I weren't opposed to having kids, and I would happily have his children. But we both knew that it would be a while before we had kids, and so it'd be a while before we saw Kane again. We returned to the ground, where we met our friends who stayed at the kingdom over night. Throughout the past few weeks, builders for the castle had been working on a master bedroom for Kai and I, and it was finally finished during the wedding. That night we went to the master bedroom and it was beautiful. It had black marble walls and and a massive bed with a thick purple comforter on it. There were other beautiful pieces of furniture like a vanity, vases of plants, golden nightstand, etc. That was the best night of sleep I had gotten since we started this whole story, and then next morning everyone returned home.

Well, that's the end of the story. I know you're probably wondering what happened to the rest of the team so I'll tell you. Me and Kai lived at The Water Kingdom and Kai made some major changes that helped improve the kingdom in a way I didn't know was possible. Our military was stronger than ever, and we had even expanded our border. We even sent guards out into the jungle so that way no one got hurt while hunting for food.  
Arashi went back to Japan and really formed a relationship with little Haru. Sadly he developed PTSD from the whole experience and decided to run away. He went to China to find snow leopard monks who could help him, but the monks were only a legend. No one knows if he actually found them or not. All we know is that he was last seen in China, where he disappeared into the mountains. I guess he lived up to his nickname of 'Ghost of The Mountain'.   
Aella returned home and put her wedding on hold. She didn't want to get married, and knew she would be miserable if she married that prince. She decided to think about the wedding before actually going through with it. While considering it, she began training her army and opened up a new branch that was just dedicated to aerial combat. It was going well, and she even came to The Water Kingdom to give us a demonstration.   
Azad on the other hand, returned home and fell in love. I'm sure you're thinking that it's a princess or something- but it was actually his maid! The two began spending time together after the wedding and ended up falling in love. We went to the wedding and it was GORGEOUS. Azad of course made all of the flowers and arrangements for the wedding. I think Kai was less interested in the wedding and more interested in the food though. We were so happy to see the couple, and Flora made a good and beautiful queen. 

Now, all of us are just living our lives one day at a time never knowing what's next. Each day is an adventure, so make the most of it. We're not guaranteed, so we must make each day special.


	16. Epilogue

I laid on the bed and was breathing heavy. Kai was standing next to me and looked worried. He laid his head on my arm, and looked up with fear in his eyes. The kingdom's royal doctor walked in with a stern look on her face. She was tough, but nice and respectful. 

"You're going to have to push, Queen Celia." She said, lifting the blanket off of me.

"O-okay..." I began pushing like said, and let out muffled screams. There was a 'push harder' here and a 'you're almost done' there before the whole process was over. There were tears in my eyes and I was extremely tired, but I was glad everything was finally over. Kai, hugged me, and we sat together in silence, before a nurse walked in. 

"Alright Queen Celia, you're free to go back to your room but we'd like to keep you here in the hospital for a day or so. Just so we can make sure everything is fine." The nurse said and bowed. 

"Thank you." Kai and I said simultaneously, and the nurse walked out. 

"Do you think it's a boy or a girl?" I asked weakly, turning to Kai.

"I think a girl. I want a girl."

"Really? I think it's a boy. Why do you want a girl?"

"I think a girl would be cute. She'd be my little princess and I would protect her- I would protect both of you." 

"You owe me a new necklace if it's a boy." I laughed and he smiled. Then, the doctor walked in holding a small cub.

"Congratulations your highness, it's a-"

To Be Continued....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, if you made it this far- thank you so much for reading the book I hope you enjoyed it! Please excuse any typos and spelling errors, as me and my editor are still working on finding all of them.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Thanks so much for reading this book, it has been worked on for 5 long years and re-written at least 3 times. If you have any questions or comments please, please PLEASE leave a comment. I always need feedback.


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